Neighbouring Amethi is similarly devoted to the family and has in the last 14 Lok Sabha elections, returned a Congress candidate 12 times. In fact, it was Indira Gandhi herself who had started paying attention to Amethi 
and its 12 lakh population. Even Sanjay Gandhi did his bit to nurture Amethi. In 1980, after Indira's death, Rajiv set up the Indian Institute for Information Technology and a degree college. Besides Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Indo Gulf Fertilisers, when Gandhi family loyalist Capt Satish Sharma took over as the petroleum minister he gave the region a gas bottling plant.
Although all of Amethi’s electoral battles have been one-sided, the most interesting no doubt has been that of Rajiv Gandhi versus Menaka Gandhi in 1989 where the former got an awesome 83.2 per cent of the vote.
Though not a part of active politics, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes election campaigning in Amethi a family affair, carrying along her two children, sharing meals with local women. Gaya Prasad Bhakul, a 60-year-old, says the transformation of Amethi has been like the unfolding of magic. “Once there was nothing. Now we have roads, a functional transport system, a colony for the Scheduled Castes, a veterinary hospital, a solar power system, a degree college….name it and we have it, just because of the Gandhis.” Each resident feels a personal bond with the Gandhis, and each has a story to narrate. Khaliq, a young man in his 20s, tells of how he had met with an accident near Jagdishpur Idgah where his motorbike rammed into a truck. He went into a coma and was admitted to a local hospital. When Rahul came to know, he spoke to Khaliq’s father, arranged for an air ambulance and flew the patient to Apollo Hospital, Delhi for treatment.
The Gandhis are not without their detractors though. Many say the pace of development is too slow, but with a hostile state government and an ailing party structure in the state (which has seen signs of revival of late) this is only to be expected.
and its 12 lakh population. Even Sanjay Gandhi did his bit to nurture Amethi. In 1980, after Indira's death, Rajiv set up the Indian Institute for Information Technology and a degree college. Besides Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Indo Gulf Fertilisers, when Gandhi family loyalist Capt Satish Sharma took over as the petroleum minister he gave the region a gas bottling plant.Although all of Amethi’s electoral battles have been one-sided, the most interesting no doubt has been that of Rajiv Gandhi versus Menaka Gandhi in 1989 where the former got an awesome 83.2 per cent of the vote.
Though not a part of active politics, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes election campaigning in Amethi a family affair, carrying along her two children, sharing meals with local women. Gaya Prasad Bhakul, a 60-year-old, says the transformation of Amethi has been like the unfolding of magic. “Once there was nothing. Now we have roads, a functional transport system, a colony for the Scheduled Castes, a veterinary hospital, a solar power system, a degree college….name it and we have it, just because of the Gandhis.” Each resident feels a personal bond with the Gandhis, and each has a story to narrate. Khaliq, a young man in his 20s, tells of how he had met with an accident near Jagdishpur Idgah where his motorbike rammed into a truck. He went into a coma and was admitted to a local hospital. When Rahul came to know, he spoke to Khaliq’s father, arranged for an air ambulance and flew the patient to Apollo Hospital, Delhi for treatment.
The Gandhis are not without their detractors though. Many say the pace of development is too slow, but with a hostile state government and an ailing party structure in the state (which has seen signs of revival of late) this is only to be expected.
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