Boost to Congress in Kerala as Rahul Gandhi opts for Wayanad
Constituency at a tri-junction of three states, says Antony
Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress unit in Kerala has got a strong morale boost with the decision of Congress president Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad.
The decision put to rest speculation that he might not contest from Kerala, after initial expectation raised by Congress leaders in Kerala that he would pick the Wayanad constituency.
Congress’ votebank politics has worked on playing with the security of the country. It is the result of this that Rahul Gandhi has left Amethi and run away to Kerala because he knows that voters will seek account from him in Amethi this time.
Until Saturday, there had been trolls on social media lampooning talk of Rahul’s candidacy from Wanayad. One of them said, “Rahul had said, ‘Why not?’ when asked by his party colleagues from Kerala about contesting from the state, and that the party workers from Kerala had heard it as Wayanad”.
Saturday’s decision means Rahul Gandhi will contest from the Gandhi family’s traditional forte, Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh, and from Wayanad in north Kerala.
Congress workers in Kerala, particularly in Wayanad were cock-a-hoop on hearing the news. A roar went up among Congressmen in Wayanad watching television as veteran Congress leader from Kerala, A.K. Antony announced, “Happy to announce that Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad”. In the state capital, Congressmen distributed sweets at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office.
A.K. Antony said Congress units from three states — Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — had requested Rahul Gandhi to contest from their respective states, and that the choice of Wayanad was an apt one given that “the constituency comes at a tri-junction of the three states”.
Their priority now is to fight against the Left in Kerala. It goes against Congress’ national commitment to fight BJP, as in Kerala it’s LDF which is the main force fighting BJP there.
The party president’s decision to contest from Wayanad is a major face-saver for Congress leaders and party workers in Kerala, who were under pressure for having first spread news about Rahul contesting from Wayanad, and then found it difficult to back their claim.
Reacting to Rahul’s decision, Bharatiya Janata Party state president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai said, “Worried that there is a strong likelihood that he will lose in Amethi, they (Congress) have decided to field him in Wayanad, relying on the backing of the Indian Union Muslim League”. Pillai described the move as a virtual disgrace for the great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Congress’ decision to contest from Wayanad has strong implications for the Communist parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
Reacting to the development, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said “the Left Democratic Front has the strength to compete irrespective of who is fielded in Wayanad”, adding that there would be no change in the LDF’s decision to field a Communist Party of India candidate from Wayanad.
Discussions were afoot in the NDA camp about finalising the candidate from the Wayanad constituency. In the wake of Rahul’s decision to contest from there, a number of fresh names have cropped up in the NDA camp, including that of film star-politician, Suresh Gopi.