"He Should Take Lead": Amethi Winner On Rahul Gandhi As Leader Of Opposition

KL Sharma, the 62-year-old Gandhi family loyalist, who created history in Amethi with his massive victory over Union minister Smriti Irani, is a reticent man. But his one-liners are enough to make his point. And in the exclusive interview with NDTV today, he made two: a -- that Rahul Gandhi should step forward and shoulder the task of the Leader of the Opposition and b -- Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should enter electoral politics and take her place in parliament.

Mr Sharma's victory against Smriti Irani after an eleventh-hour nomination will remain one of the fireside tales in Amethi in this election that turned exit polls on their heads.

In April, Ms Irani had scoffed at the prospect of facing Rahul Gandhi or his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, from Amethi, saying "whoever comes will be defeated surely".

But it was Mr Sharma, who has been looking after the two constituencies for over four decades on behalf of the Gandhis, who won the 1.6 lakh vote victory against her. The margin was three times what Ms Irani scraped up against Rahul Gandhi in 2019.

In the exclusive interview with NDTV, he attributed his victory to the people of Amethi and the Gandhi family -- in that order.

"The people of Amethi were my main campaigners and the Gandhi family were my main campaigners. They did it and after that I did it," he said.

Asked about a possible new role for Rahul Gandhi -- that many members of parliament wanted him to be the leader of the Opposition -- he gently reminded, "I am a member of parliament also".

"I also vote for him... My personal feeling is that he should take the job," he added on further probing.

Asked whether Mr Gandhi should retain Raebareli or Wayanad, Mr Sharma said, "I don't know. That is a decision for the entire family. But my personal feeling is that he should retain Raebareli".

What about Wayanand? Should Priyanka Gandhi Vadra step into her brother's shoes? "I don't know. This is an entire family decision," he said. Asked what his personal opinion was, he said, "My personal opinion is that she should come in the house. So many times I have told her, she should come in the house.

After the results came in on Tuesday, a video was circulated widely on social media, where Mr Sharma's daughter Anjali Sharma is heard saying, '"Smriti Irani can call my father anything -- chaprasi, proxy, servant, ant whatever, but numbers are in front of us."  

Mr Sharma was humble in victory. "There is no revenge in politics. It is like sportsmanship, one has to win and the other loses. We don't see things in terms of revenge and all," he had told news agency Press Trust of India in an exclusive interview.