Aakriti Handa
Moneycontrol News
A little after 11am on Sunday, as Kerala Congress workers waited with bated breath, former defence minister AK Antony announced that Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from the Wayanad parliamentary seat in the southern state. As soon as the announcement was made, workers were jubilant.
Wayanad, in North Kerala, shares its borders with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The state unit believes that Rahul contesting from the seat will provide an impetus to the Congress footprint in south India.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is spread across three revenue districts – Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram – and comprises seven assembly seats. It came into being in 2009 after the delimitation of constituencies.
Congress bastion?
The first MP from the seat was senior Congress leader MI Shanavas, who had won with a huge margin of 1.5 lakh votes, defeating CPI’s M Rahmathulla.
Shanavas retained the Wayanad seat in the 2014 general election, but with a relatively low victory margin of 20,000 votes.
In November 2018, about six months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shanavas died at the age of 67 years. The seat has been vacant since then.
Wayanad is said to be the safest seat for the Congress, with many contenders vying for it.
What about infighting among factions?
The Congress in Kerala is divided into two factions – the Antony (A) faction led by former chief minister Oommen Chandy, and the Indira (I) faction led by Ramesh Chennithala.
Shanavas belonged to the ‘I’ faction and hence Chennithala had demanded the seat for his cadre.
Meanwhile, Chandy had been lobbying for the candidature of his close aide and young leader T Siddique from the Wayanad constituency. Even before the party had declared a candidate from the seat, Siddique had started campaigning in the district.
Candidates from other parties vying for the seat
The Left Democratic Front has announced CPI’s PP Suneer as its candidate from Wayanad, while the BJP has given the seat to its ally, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).
Earlier, the BJDS had fielded political greenhorn Paily Vathiattu. However, after Rahul’s candidature was announced from Wayanad, BJDS chief Thushar Vellappally declared that he will be contesting himself to take on Gandhi.
A Winnable Factor
The Congress has represented the Wayanad seat twice in Parliament. Of the seven assembly seats its includes, four are held by the CPI(M) and the rest by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
Besides, Wayanad has a strong pro-Congress voter base, with Muslims and Christians forming over 50 percent of the votebank and traditionally voting for the Congress and its ally IUML (Indian Union Muslim League). In addition, the constituency is a prominent agrarian belt of Kerala.
What are the issues facing Wayanad?
With only 3.86 percent people living in urban areas, a major chunk is involved in farming activities. Rural distress, hence, is a major issue in the area. Pepper and coffee are major crops, which were affected adversely during the 2018 floods that ravaged the state.
The district saw a farm sector crisis in 2005-07, when several debt-ridden farmers committed suicide.
Political ramifications of Rahul's announcement
The announcement spells good news for the Grand Old Party and the larger UDF that it heads in the southern state. The party also hopes that Rahul contesting from Wayanad has a ripple effect in the areas surrounding it, in an attempt to establish their foothold in the Malabar belt.
The announcement ism however, not good news for CPI's candidate from the seat, PP Suneer. In fact, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan repeatedly charged at the Congress, saying Rahul contesting from Wayanad is an attempt to attack the Left in the state and not the BJP. This underlines the bitterness that the local Congress shares with Left in Kerala, even if they have a cordial relationship in New Delhi.
In addition, Rahul Gandhi fighting from two seats – Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala– has given fodder to the BJP who claim that the Congress chief is not confident of his victory against the saffron party's candidate, Smriti Irani, in UP.
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