BENGALURU: It was Karnataka that used to host political luminaries from the Nehru-Gandhi family who needed a safe seat. This time, its neighbour to the south, Kerala, will do the honours. And Wayanad constituency, up in the Western Ghats, will play the role of sanctuary to Congress president Rahul Gandhi —what Chikmagalur famously was to Indira Gandhi in 1978, and Bellary to Sonia Gandhi in 1999.
Though contesting from Kerala brings about an extra complication — the Congress’s main rival will be a Left candidate, and not the BJP —the party is hoping for a positive domino effect that spills over to the neighbouring states.
Wayanad is a border constituency situated at a trijunction — the Kodagu-Mysore belt in Karnataka and the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu abut this seat.The Congress, therefore, hopes it will have a spin-off all around, besides of course bolstering its chances in Kerala itself.
The electoral space the Congress traditionally had in Kerala has been under challenge from a BJP vote surge of late. The stand the party took on the Sabarimala controversy — going with the popular mood, against the Supreme Court judgment — was a result of that imperative. The gung-ho of party leaders in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is not shared by sceptical analysts though.
The gung-ho of party leaders in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is not shared by sceptical analysts though, who feel it’s antithetical to the aim of the Mahagathbandhan.“I don’t think it will have any impact on neighbouring constituencies. Moreover, the BJP will project that since he was not sure about his seat in Amethi, he is contesting from Kerala,” said political analyst A Narayan from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. “I don’t know what is the strategic reason behind contesting from Kerala as there is nothing great to achieve there. The Congress is not in a bad shape in Kerala and the party is expected to do well as there is anti-incumbency factor working against the government,” he said.
According to political analyst Prof Sandeep Shastri it will only divide the non-BJP alliance, as the Left Front is saying. “It will not have any impact in Karnataka or in Tamil Nadu,” he added.But Congress leaders have a different take. Congress leader and candidate from Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, Rizwan Arshad, says: “It sends a big message and help further consolidate anti-BJP votes in South India.” According to him, “the general sentiment in southern states is against BJP and the party’s decision will help boost its campaign and stop BJP from gaining any foothold in the southern states”. Except Karnataka, BJP is not a major force in the other southern state.
Arshad’s party colleague and Karnataka Congress unit working president Eshwar Khandre concurs with his views. “It will enthuse the party cadre across South India and help Congress and coalition party candidates,” said Khandre, who is contesting the LS polls from Bidar in North Karnataka. “In fact,that was the reason the state unit requested the party president to contest from Karnataka.”Apart from Karnataka, Congress units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu too had requested Rahul Gandhi to contest any constituency from their states.
The Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu termed it as a move to “bridge the North and the South”. “It is special that Wayanad is located along the borders of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” Tamil Nadu Congress unit president K S Alagiri said on Sunday. He said Rahul’s decision was a “reflection of language, culture and tradition of the people of southern states.”
However, the Congress’s gains are unlikely to be proportionate to the risk it has taken. By selecting a seat in Kerala, the Congress runs the risk of taking a decision which is not in consonance with its national agenda to forge a secular alliance to take on the BJP. Also, in Tamil Nadu, it may give the Congress a few embarrassing moments during the poll campaign.
Rahul Gandhi may have to necessarily attack the Left party’s rule in Kerala. But hardly a few kilometres away, in the Tamil Nadu side of the border, the Congress leaders have to campaign for the candidates fielded by the Left parties. In Tamil Nadu, both the Left parties are part of the DMK-Congress alliance. Each of the criticisms Rahul Gandhi may place against the Left party rule in Kerala may be picked up by AIADMK leaders to term the alliance as an opportunistic one.