Congress president Rahul Gandhi is going South, to Wayanad in Kerala, to fight the Lok Sabha polls from a second constituency. The foray in the South is not new to the Nehru family. The decision comes at a time when the undercurrents in his Amethi constituency are not inspiring for Rahul. His lead had gone down in the 2014 polls, and Union Minister Smriti Irani is locking horns with him for a fresh fight. For the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, ensuring his presence in the new Lok Sabha is all the more important this time. The party is making a strong bid to grab power.
Wayanad has been carefully chosen as the safest seat for Rahul. For one, the seat was won by the Congress in the last LS polls. This apart, Muslims and tribals are a prominent presence in the constituency, which must help the Congress to retain the seat. The two Communist parties who run the LDF government in the state are likely to avoid a tough fight in view of the close association the two sides are having at the national level. This rules out a do-or-die battle. Rather, it could be a tame affair. While the LDF candidate is a Muslim, the politically active community is expected to strongly back Rahul Gandhi this time, as they see him as the best bet against Narendra Modi and the BJP in Delhi.
The Congress is projecting Rahul Gandhi’s fight in Wayanad – set at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala – as a symbolic fight against the BJP’s and Modi government’s moves to “undercut the culture and traditions of the South”. This is a lame excuse or justification, as overall no such sentiment exists in the South. One will rather have to invent it. The Modi government as also the BJP has been careful enough not to rub the southerners the wrong way. No national party can afford to antagonise major segments of the population. At the same time, both the Congress and the Left will have a lot of explaining to do as to how Rahul Gandhi is fighting the Left, its close ally. This could cause considerable confusion.
Notably, the fight at the hustings at the national level is bound to be more interesting this time. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is in half a mind to enter the fray in Varanasi and throw a direct challenge to PM Modi. This could be prescription for more trouble to Modi.
