X: @the_news_21
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress pivot Rahul Gandhi’s decision to seek re-election from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency has irked the Left.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has allotted the seat to the Communist Party of India (CPI), as it did in the previous polls as well. The CPI has nominated its most prominent woman face Annie Raja as its candidate.
Wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, Annie, though a Malayali, has for long been a Delhi-centred politician.
Well before Rahul Gandhi burst on to the Wayanad electoral scene in 2019, the predominantly rural constituency in north Kerala had remained a stronghold of the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress. Last time, Rahul Gandhi won the seat with a thumping margin of over four lakh votes against the nearest CPI rival, and relegating the NDA contestant as an also-ran.
The CPI candidates had repeatedly contested and lost in Wayanad. This time too, the CPI entered the fray without entertaining much hope of annexing Wayanad, whether or not Rahul Gandhi chooses to defend his sitting seat.
What, however, disheartens the LDF, and the CPI in particular, is the discomfiture of taking directly on the very helmsman of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A).
Right from the start, the Left leaders suggested that Gandhi stay out of Wayanad this time as Kerala remains a barren territory for BJP. If the political purpose of floating INDIA was to be served, Gandhi should fight from a seat in a northern state, taking head on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
No sooner had the Congress released its first list of candidates, which included Wayanad, than the Left went on publicly saying this only betrayed the insecurity of the party. A senior CPI (M) leader said this is as good as conceding defeat to the saffron party in the Hindi heartland.
The tricky situation in Wayanad has also thrown up the question of the campaign narrative of each of the principal contestants.
Both the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF know that directing the ire entirely on the BJP will be futile in Kerala, where the latter is still struggling hard to break the electoral jinx.
This would mean that the Congress and its UDF allies will have to take tenaciously on the LDF, citing omissions and commissions under its rule. Issues are galore for the UDF to mount an unsparing attack on the LDF rule to convert the public ire into votes. Would this, however, suit Rahul Gandhi?
The Left has been a great source of support for his INDIA project right from the moment the idea germinated. Leaders of the CPI (M) and the CPI were fixtures at the INDIA conclaves. Could Gandhi go all out against the sole LDF government in the country? True in war and politics all is fair.
A refrain of the Left, in recent days, has been that the Congress is wary of trying and making a final assault on the BJP in the heartland states. Instead, the Grand Old Party (GOP) has been pursuing the line of ‘’soft Hindutva.’
“Today’s Congress is tomorrow’s BJP,’’ is a running tagline of the Left’s narrative in Kerala, referring to the switch over to the BJP by scores of Congress leaders in different states. Coming home, it cites the case of Anil Antony, son of Congress veteran A K Antony, and Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of the late Congress stalwart K Karunakaran, to buttress the point. Anil Antony is the BJP candidate in Pathanamthitta seat, and started off his campaign in all zest.
Amid this complex scenario, it is interesting to watch if Rahul Gandhi will join his local colleagues in training all guns at the LDF at the campaign trail. Will top LDF leaders hit the electioneering in the hilly constituency to spit fire and brimstone on the Congress candidate?
While the unfolding campaign in Wayanad promises to be highly interesting, the LDF has a viable option to steer clear of the dire straits it finds itself in. It can turn the campaign in Wayanad into a tame affair by refraining from mounting a frontal attack on Gandhi. All the same, it could be business as usual in the rest of the state.
Even if the Left prefers to go slow, the NDA is not going to gain much in Wayanad, going by the political and demographic features.
Rahul Gandhi’s decision, however, has enthused the Congress in Kerala. The contestants think that the presence of a top leader will boost their prospects in all constituencies. But it remains to be seen if Rahul Gandhi will tour all the constituencies in the state, especially if he chooses to fight from Amethi as well.
