Will not contest Lok Sabha election due to health, age issues: Sonia Gandhi

Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi today announced that she will not run in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to health and age issues, capping a nearly two-decade career in electoral politics.

In a message laced with emotion in Rae Bareli constituency in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which she has represented since 2004, the 77-year-old Sonia also hinted at a possible entry by a member of her family from Rae Bareli, a bastion of the Gandhi clan.

“I am proud to say that whatever I am today, I am because of you and I have always done my best to honour your trust. Now on account of health and age issues, I will not contest the next Lok Sabha election,” she said in the message written in Hindi.

“After this decision, I will not have the opportunity to serve you directly but my heart and soul will always remain with you. I know that you will stand by me and my family in future, just as you have in the past,” Sonia said, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Sonia’s message came a day after she filed her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan. Assured of election, she will make her debut in the upper House of parliament. Sonia will also be the second member of the Gandhi family to appear in the Rajya Sabha after Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the upper house from 1964 to 1967.

Sonia’s shift to the Rajya Sabha has triggered speculation in political circles that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra could contest from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency this time.

In the message to voters, Sonia Gandhi further said, “My family in Delhi is incomplete without you. It is completed when I come to Rae Bareli and meet all of you. My ties with you are very old. I have inherited these ties as a good fortune from my in-laws.”

Noting that ties of her family with Rae Bareli are “very deep rooted”, Sonia said Rae Bareli sent her father-in-law Feroze Gandhi to Lok Sabha in the first general election held after Independence.

“After that, you accepted my mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

“You allowed me space to walk along on this shining path. I came to you after losing my mother-in-law and husband and you accepted me with open arms,” the former Congress chief said.

“I can never forget your staunch support for me through the adverse circumstances through the last two Lok Sabha elections,” Sonia recalled.