Instead of battling INDIA bloc ally CPI in Wayanad, the ruling LDF in Kerala wants Rahul Gandhi take on the BJP in its strongholds.
Published Dec 06, 2023 | 1:00 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 06, 2023 | 10:23 PM
Women in Wayanad greet Rahul Gandhi. (Supplied)
The Congress drubbing in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh has had a fallout in distant Kerala — and it could put party leader Rahul Gandhi in a bind.
The ruling LDF in the state wants him to vacate the Wayanad constituency — a seat allocated to coalition constituent CPI — and contest the Lok Sabha election from North India, taking on the BJP and its Hindutva agenda with the combined support of the Opposition INDIA bloc.
All the constituents of the LDF, including the CPI(M) and CPI, are members of the INDIA bloc at the national level. However, they regard Congress as their principal political opponent in the state.
If Gandhi leaves Wayanad, going against the promise he made to the people there on his last visit to the constituency in end-November, the LDF can hope to increase its tally of Lok Sabha seats from the state.
Rahul Gandhi with the flood-hit families in Wayanad. (File photo/Supplied)
In the 2019 Parliament election, the LDF won just one of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala — Alappuzha. Rahul Gandhi’s presence in Wayanad had a ripple effect across the state, resulting in the Congress-led Opposition UDF winning 19 of the 20 seats.
The LDF fears a rerun of the previous election, with Gandhi having significantly boosted his support base in Kerala through his Bharat Jodo Yatra that was extremely well-received in the state.
The significant feelings of anti-incumbency that the second Pinarayi Vijayan government is faced with, coupled with Gandhi’s popularity, may well favour the Congress and the UDF yet again in 2024.
Gandhi defeated the CPI candidate in Wayanad by a whopping 4.31 lakh votes in the previous general election.
With the BJP not a factor in the state, the electoral humiliation of the Congress in the Hindi heartland has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the LDF. It believes that, in the absence of Gandhi, the UDF will need help to impact the Lok Sabha election, now less than six months away.
Left leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have contended that, in the recent Assembly elections, Congress has faltered in a region where it needs to improve its strike rate against the BJP drastically, and that the only viable option was to send Gandhi back there to take on the saffron party directly.
They said that if Gandhi contested anywhere in North India, the Left parties and other members of the INDIA bloc would provide him strong support.
In a recent interview with a popular Malayalam news channel, CPI National General Secretary D Raja openly raised the demand, asking what message Gandhi’s re-election in Wayanad, and the defeat of the CPI candidate there, would send to the nation.
Gandhi, he argued, must emerge as the national leader of the entire Opposition. ”Who is his party’s biggest national political rival? The BJP, or us,” asked Raja.
In similar vein, CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan told South First that while his party could not force Gandhi to leave Wayanad, it would be better for the Congress leader and the country if he contested the election from the Hindi belt and directly challenged the BJP.
“In Kerala, there is no BJP. Rahul should run against the BJP rather than the LDF, as it will send the message that the Congress’ major enemy is the Left parties, not the BJP. Rahul should run from a BJP stronghold,” remarked Govindan.
Govindan also underscored the Congress dependence on Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala.
“Would Rahul Gandhi be able to contest from Wayanad without the League’s support? He is contesting in Kerala because the Congress could not win in Uttar Pradesh. Congress has no clout in the Hindi heartland states. The Assembly election results have demonstrated this. The Congress has reached a point where it can no longer lead the INDIA front,” Govindan remarked.
The CPI(M) leader added that, rather than building a national political front, the Opposition should view each state as a unit. Then, it should assess the strengths and weaknesses of the state-level parties and select the party with the most clout to take on the BJP.
“The Congress has now failed to create unity in the INDIA bloc. In Rajasthan, the Congress ruined the CPI(M)’s chances of defeating the BJP in the Bhadra constituency,” he stated.
Meanwhile, several Left fellow-travellers and intellectuals in Kerala have begun to voice the same demand.
According to political analyst J Prabhash, Gandhi should take a risk and run from the Hindi belt, ideally from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, where he was humiliated by Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2019.
Rahul Gandhi during a visit to Wayanad. (Supplied)
The Congress Party must work hard in the larger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh if it is serious about providing an alternative to the BJP at the national level, Prabhash told South First.
Participating in the LDF government’s ongoing Nava Kerala Sadas campaign led by the chief minister, CPI leader and Revenue Minister K Rajan said that Gandhi’s candidature from North India would improve the morale of the entire INDIA bloc. Rahul should fight the BJP elsewhere rather than defeating the CPI in Wayanad, he added.
There are those who had voiced opposition in 2019 itself to Gandhi choosing Wayanad as his second constituency. They feared the action would destabilise the larger Congress-Left political relationships at the national level, eroding Opposition unity against the ruling BJP.
In Wayanad, the BJP is essentially non-existent, and despite Gandhi defeating CPI’s PP Suneer by a huge margin, the party, unlike the CPI(M), has been forgiving of the Congress. Although the Congress weaned away the Left party’s firebrand youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar, CPI leaders had attended the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s final celebration in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Kerala’s Opposition leader, VD Satheesan of the Congress, said the party’s high command would decide on whether Gandhi would contest from Wayanad.
The Congress, which had won two states between November of last year and May of this year, and appeared to be on track for a comeback, was suffered a huge setback on 3 December when it lost Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the BJP, and failed to wrest Madhya Pradesh from the saffron party.
The Congress in Kerala has already started planning for the Lok Sabha elections, and its leaders are banking on the anti-incumbency sentiment against both the state’s LDF government and the BJP-led Union government.
KPA Majeed, senior leader of the IUML, a constituent of the UDF, asserted that people’s hatred of the LDF government will ensure easy sailing for the Congress-led coalition in the upcoming general election.
“Power and water rates have risen. Fuel taxes were increased alarmingly, but welfare pensions have been pending for many months. Why would people support the CPM?” he asked when South First contacted him.
Congress leaders and Parliament members Shashi Tharoor and K Muraleedharan have publicly opposed the LDF proposal, claiming that Rahul was unlikely to change his constituency.
Just three days after the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh ended, Gandhi travelled to Wayanad and promised voters that he would run again from there.
While many people outside Wayanad may want Gandhi to leave the area, a good number of voters in the hilly region supported his re-election since he gave the backward district a new identity and profile.
“Through him, the rest of the world learned about Wayanad. He did an outstanding job as an MP. We may disagree on politics, but he is our leader,” KV Pratheesh, owner of a photography studio in Sulthan Bathery, Wayanad, told South First.
Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi visited the family of the deceased Vishwanathan. (Screengrab)
The constituency includes the portions of districts of Wayanad and Malappuram, as well as Thiruvambady in Kozhikode.
Across Wayanad, Congress workers are sure that Gandhi would win the next election on the strength of his reputation as an effective Lok Sabha member.
He has highlighted numerous critical concerns impacting Wayanad’s economy in Parliament, including prolonging the moratorium on farm loan repayment, the need for road infrastructure maintenance, and expanding the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, or MGNREGS.
Gandhi also effectively uses his MPLAD (Local Area Development) grant. During the height of Covid-19, he ensured that relief measures were implemented in Wayanad, using MPLAD funds to purchase medical equipment, PPEs, masks, and other items valued at ₹2.7 crore.
Projects ranging from the purchase of cars for community healthcare facilities to the procurement of computer lab equipment and the construction of Anganwadi centres were also approved.
He also campaigned for lifting the nighttime traffic ban on NH-766, establishing a government medical college in Wayanad, and completing the Nanjangud-Nilambur railway line as soon as possible.
“I have never met a more humble and friendly leader than Rahul. He visited my restaurant several times and ate whatever we served. He freely mixes with people,” claimed P Sathar, owner of a famous restaurant in Wayanad.
“Most people in Wayanad are uneducated and do not speak English or Hindi. Rahul demonstrated that language is not an impediment. He won hearts like no one else,” he told South First.
