Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress party in Kerala as well as in other southern states will get a flying start in the elections if Congress president Rahul Gandhi contests from Wayanad. CWC members A. K. Antony and K. C. Venugopal were behind the move to bring Rahul Gandhi to Wayanad. But KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran claimed that the party had earlier invited Rahul Gandhi to make a grand entry to Kerala.
The leadership had, of course, made a move in this respect when he came to launch the UDF election campaign at Kozhikode beach. Karnataka PCC and DMK leader M. K. Stalin had also sought his candidature.
The AICC has not officially announced the candidature of K. Muraleedharan and T. Siddique from Vatakara and Wayanad respectively. But none expected the latest turn of events. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala had told reporters in Kottayam earlier on Saturday that there was no confusion on the candidature. But within minutes, he had to correct himself.
“A. K. Antony called up Chandy and told him about Rahul’s plan. He alerted Mullapally and Chennithala as well as Siddique. Siddique sought Chandy’s permission to step down as candidate,” said a top Congress leader.
Antony had also sought the advice of K. C. Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state. Venugopal had met Rahul Gandhi on Saturday morning before the latter left for election campaigning in Bihar and discussed the candidature in Wayanad, sources said. .
The KPCC leadership also came under flak from a section of party leaders for the haste in which the ‘A’ group had initiated the campaign for Siddique before the official announcement.
“Chandy has lost the battle this time as he is known to fight for his loyalists until the last. Chandy as well as Mullapally and Chennithala should have waited until the AICC’s list was announced. BJP leader K. Surendran did not start his campaign when there was a tug of war between him and party president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai” said the Congress leader.
Wayanad is a Congress bastion though there were efforts by a section of party men to defeat M. I. Shanavas in the 2014 elections. In 2009, Shanavas had a thumping majority of over 1.53 lakh votes against CPI’s M. Rahmatullah. Wayanad borders Karnataka, which will also gain from Rahul’s presence.
