'My aim is to serve people with compassion, empathy'

THE announcement of the name of Kishori Lal Sharma as Congress candidate from Amethi against Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani took many by surprise both in Congress camp and BJP as they had been expecting Rahul Gandhi to be in fray from his bastion which he had lost to Smriti Irani in 2019.

- NAMITA BAJPAI

"I am confident of my victory as the top party leaders will come here for me. I am the same Kishori Lal who had come to Amethi with Rajiv Gandhi in 1983. I have learnt from Gandhi family that my sole aim and the only religion is to serve people with empathy and compassion," says the Congress candidate adding that he takes pride in getting selected by the Gandhis.

For Amethi, Sharma is not an unknown face. Those aware of Amethi politics know KL Sharma as manager and representative of Gandhis since 1983 when the then Amethi MP Rajiv Gandhi had brought him along as a soldier of Youth brigade. Many in Amethi remember him from his days when he used to pedal a cycle around Amethi. They saw him as a common man and a Gandhi loyalist who has been entrusted with comparatively a tough task of taking on a mighty BJP candidate and sitting MP Smriti Irani.