Sonia Gandhi may enter Rajya Sabha via Karnataka route

By Rasheed Kidwai: Rajya Sabha polls for four seats in Karnataka are eight months away but speculation is rife that Sonia Gandhi may enter the upper house as a party nominee along with Syed Naseer Hussain and Supriya Shrinate.

The term of four outgoing MPs - GC Chandrashekhar, Syed Naseer Hussain and Dr L Hanumanthaiah [All Congress] and Rajeev Chandrasekhar - is ending on April 2, 2024. As per the current strength, the Congress is set to get three out of four seats in the party-ruled states. Naseer, AICC coordinator attached to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, is all set to be given another term while Congress social media chief and fiery spokesperson Shrinate is tipped to be brought to the Upper House along with Sonia.

Highly placed sources said during Sonia’s recent visit to Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah offered a seat to the former AICC chief, considered a matriarch in the grand old party. While Sonia did not respond, there are some factors indicating a possibility of her entering the Upper House. Primarily, if Sonia chooses to accept Siddaramaiah’s offer, it would help her retain 10, Janpath, a house she has been living in since 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi had moved in there as the Leader of the Opposition.

In the recent past, both Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi found themselves evicted from their official residences in Lutyens’ Delhi. In April this year, Rahul lost 12, Tughlak Crescent when he ceased to be a member of Lok Sabha from Wayanad while Priyanka vacated her 34, Lodhi Estate residence in July 2022 that was allotted to her in 1997 on grounds of security.

Sonia is currently a five-time Lok Sabha MP [once from Amethi and four times Raebareli] and has a formidable record of never losing an electoral battle. However, post 2019, due to health and various other reasons, Sonia has not been able to nurse her constituency as much as she would have liked. The possibility of Priyanka Gandhi contesting in 2024 or winning it would not solve the issue of retaining 10, Janpath as a first timer MP, Priyanka would not be entitled to get 10, Janpath.

Interestingly, in 1989, Rajiv was advised against moving in by Central Public Works Department employees who look after Lutyens Delhi bungalows. The genial politician had laughed it off saying: “Jab woh bhoot iss bhoot ko dekhega, toh woh bhaag jayega (When that ghost sees this one, he will run away).” There were several superstitions about 10, Janpath. It was said that there were two graves inside. But more importantly, it was considered as a house that brought ill-luck to Sanjay Gandhi.

10, Janpath used to be the office of the Indian Youth Congress during the 1975 Emergency era when Ambika Soni was its president and Sanjay Gandhi, its mentor. The severity of the 1977 defeat was massive. The Youth Congress Office was shut and opened after several years at Rajendra Prasad Road.

Rumours have it that when Rajiv entered 10, Janpath in 1989, he saw blood marks in certain areas of 10, Janpath. Between 1977 to 1989, the Press Council of India had its office but had to move out and then KK Tewary, a vocal Congress leader from Buxar, stayed there and moved out after Rajiv was allotted the house. Tewary has been in the political wilderness till date.

Old timers recall Lal Bahadur Shastri too had stayed at 10, Janpath (as prime minister). His residential complex included parts which are with present-day 10, Janpath. Shastri died within 18 months of being in office as prime minister.

It is a bit unusual but the Nehru-Gandhi family, for almost a century now, have not lived in private houses in the national capital until Rahul recently moved to Nizamuddin East rental accommodation. Their association with Anand Bhawan [it was donated by Indira Gandhi to the nation in 1970] ended when Jawaharlal Nehru moved to New Delhi and lived at 7 York Road, now at Motilal Nehru Marg. He moved to Teen Murti Bhawan in 1947 after taking over as the prime minister of independent India.

In 1977, when Indira Gandhi was thrown out of power, she literally did not have a roof over head or the family. According to Indira’s biographer Katherine Frank, Feroze Gandhi had bought land in Mehrauli in 1959, a year before his death.

Years later, Rajiv Gandhi had built a farmhouse there. It hit headlines again in December 2018 when Indian Express reported that Rahul and Priyanka had rented out the premises, known as “Indira Gandhi Farmhouse” to a firm National Spot Exchange Ltd, a subsidiary of Financial Technology (India) Ltd. The rent lease was subsequently cancelled.

The period after the Emergency, i.e. 1977-78, proved to be a testing time for Indira Gandhi. Not only had she lost all her powers, she had also lost the official residence that went with her post. Her Mehrauli farmhouse was only half-built then, and she was losing friends fast – even trusted friends. When her troubles began to escalate, family loyalist Mohammad Yunus offered his residence, 12 Willingdon Crescent, to Indira and her family as their private residence, while he moved to a property in South Delhi. Thus, 12 Willingdon Crescent became home to the Gandhis. Indira, Rajiv, his wife Sonia, their children, Rahul and Priyanka, Sanjay, Maneka, and five dogs – all moved in, leaving virtually no scope or space for any political activity from there.

In a 2009 affidavit while filing a nomination from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi had declared that he did not own any house. In July 2020, Priyanka Gandhi vacated her 34, Lodhi Estate house, which was given to her on ‘security grounds.’ Priyanka has since then been staying at Sujan Singh Park near Khan Market where she has reportedly rented a 2BHK house. Her office is functioning from 10, Janpath in a porta cabin. Her businessman husband Robert Vadra owns some posh accommodation in Gurugram.

(This article is authored by Rasheed Kidwai, who is a journalist and author of 24 Akbar Road and Sonia: A Biography.)