PTI3_27_2019_000078B-(Read-Only)
Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi addresses during the AICC OBC National Convention, in New Delhi, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Image Credit: PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: In an era of fake news, the speculation about Congress president Rahul Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Kerala appears likely to belong to the growing mountain of lies during campaign time.

Former chief minister Oommen Chandy was the first to give a hint of Rahul’s likely candidacy from the Wayanad constituency in north Kerala. But Chandy himself denied on Thursday that he made a statement that Rahul would contest from Wayanad.

“He was requested to contest from Wayanad, just like some other states (Pradesh Congress Committees) asked him to contest from there. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had also made such a request”, Chandy told media persons on Thursday.

In other words, it was only a desire of Congressmen from Kerala that the party president contest from Kerala.

The former chief minister’s words have now turned speculation the other way, with political observers feeling that Rahul would not be contesting from Kerala.

But there may be a cost for the Congress if the president does not contest from Wayanad. Commentators say that if Rahul decides not to contest from Kerala after raising such high hopes in the Congress camp in the state, it will affect the morale of the Congress campaign team.

Ever since the news broke of Rahul’s likelihood of contesting from Wayanad, the opposition United Democratic Front in Kerala was in a buoyant mood, hoping that the national leader’s presence would positively rub off on all UDF coalition partners in the state.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, M.I. Shanawas of Congress had won the Wayanad seat, defeating the Communist Party of India’s Satyan Modikeri.

When news first broke that Rahul may contest from Amethi and Wayanad, Communist Party of India Marxist state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was one of the first to criticise the Congress president, stating that he should clarify which seat he would retain if he won both.

On social media, too, there were trolls aimed at Rahul’s likely candidature from Wayanad. One troll said the “voters of Chalakudy would love to have Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi contest from the constituency so that Chalakudy voters get to have a PM as their representative in the Lok Sabha.”