Rahul Gandhi must have prayed for victory from Raebareli, which Sonia Gandhi had won multiple times including in the 2019 general elections. Rahul Gandhi chose Raebareli over Amethi, the neighbouring constituency which used to be Rahul’s till Smriti Irani sent him packing in 2019. This time Irani is taunting him and long-time Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma is taking her on.

Rahul Gandhi on May 20 went on a round of polling booths after the Hanuman Mandir visit. The Congress called it “inspection tour”. It is such pronouncements which give the Bharatiya Janata Party a chance to charge Rahul Gandhi with elitism. The Congress cannot but kowtow to the first family of the party but who is Rahul Gandhi to embark on an “inspection tour” of polling booths?

Rahul Gandhi went on his election booths tour from Bachhrawan and thereafter to Harchandpur assembly constituency, covering polling booths in the whole of Raebareli parliamentary constituency. Such extraordinary inspection tours are not even part of the Election Commission’s itinerary but Rahul Gandhi was not taking any chances. The INDI-Alliance does not trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi from playing “tricks”.

In fact, Rahul Gandhi has cautioned Election officials that they were under scrutiny and they should be prepared for consequences if the INDI-Alliance comes to power despite and in spite of Modi government’s hanky-panky. Fact is, Rahul Gandhi has been behaving like he was at the end of his tether and was not pulling any shots after he decided to contest from a second seat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned this change in Rahul Gandhi’s attitude in an interview to the ‘sabse tez channel’ a week before.

Not just the Prime Minister, all of India’s news watching public have seen and heard Rahul Gandhi harden his stance and language on key issues and political adversaries ever since the scene shifted to Raebareli. It’s as if Raebareli reminded Rahul Gandhi of what the Gandhi surname stood for. Not that Rahul Gandhi needed reminding, he has been “Yuvraj” and “Shahzade” for the BJP for long enough time.

Rahul Gandhi is being watched by the BJP top-brass. In fact, the Raebareli contest is not between BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh and Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is the main man manning the BJP campaign to deny Rahul Gandhi parliamentary legitimacy from the ‘north’. Just like the real battle in Amethi is between Smriti Irani and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Gandhi family is beyond pretenses now. Lost glory and lost constituency are at stake.

The Congress got 17 seats as its share of the “UP Quota”, but the party is battling it out only on two – Amethi and Raebareli. Rahul Gandhi’s political career will be irrelevant if he loses from Raebareli, Wayanad be damned. And the family has to defeat Smriti Irani. The Union Minister is a living challenge to the receding might of the Nehru-Gandhi bloodline.

Think of the smirk. Think of the fact that Irani owns a house in Amethi, an everyday reminder that she’s “here to stay”. Another victory for Smriti Irani and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will not show her face in Amethi again. Neither would Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. The grim reality is this is the last chance for the Gandhi family in both Amethi and Raebareli.

Also, Wayanad folks will not forget that they were the second choice. Rahul Gandhi is banking on the Samajwadi Party to save his family’s reputation. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav is in a new role of saviour to beleaguered INDI-Alliance partners. Arvind Kejriwal was the first, and now Rahul Gandhi. One “political family” to another.

Problem for Rahul Gandhi is that the BJP considers Rahul Gandhi its biggest problem. There is this feeling going around in INDI-Alliance circles that the Prime Minister sensed defeat and built his “abki baar 400 paar” campaign to build up a sham momentum. But overtime the voter “wisened up” to reality and has been showing nervous excitement, what’s being called “undercurrent”.

Will it be curtains for Modi and BJP on June 4? And in Raebareli notwithstanding Amit Shah’s and of time machinations? Shah has been actively cobbling up “friendships” to help BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh including hobnobbing with Brahmin strongman Manoj Pandey. Will Rahul Gandhi’s prayer to Lord Hanuman be answered? Hindu castes have been voting en bloc long before Muslims picked up the habit.

And ever since 2014, Hindu consolidation has been an ongoing build-up throughout the Hindi heartland. Voting in Raebareli was brisk to start with and by 11 am, 27.82 percent had voted. The two constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli had been visited by more top leaders ever since Rahul Gandhi filed nomination. Three Chief Ministers, four Deputy Chief Ministers, four former Chief Ministers, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a constant flow of top bureaucrats.

Sonia Gandhi made a visit and this was after complaints of her “no visit” policy during her tenure as Raebareli MP. Rahul Gandhi’s mother’s absence from the constituency is the main talking point for the BJP and, perhaps, that is what separates the ‘north voter’ from the ‘south voter’. It is a question of whether the Gandhi family has learned its lesson. Rahul Gandhi’s victory from Raebareli must be ensured for the all-powerful Gandhi Family to learn any lesson, if at all.

And though Rahul Gandhi is brazening it out, his words berating Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cutting edge “dialogues” that have been going viral on Social Media, it is imperative for Rahul Gandhi to post victory in Raebareli. Modi might or might not join the BJP’s ‘Marg-darshak Mandal’ if the BJP wins or loses, but if the INDI-Alliance is crushed, as Modi has predicted, and Rahul Gandhi loses from Raebareli, it will be time for a vacation – Rahul Gandhi’s love affair with Raebareli will end before it begins. (IPA Service)