THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Rajya Sabha seat from north India becoming a talking point during elections in Kerala may sound bizarre. In this poll season, however, the Alappuzha constituency in central Kerala is abuzz with murmurs over the ‘Rajasthan seat’, courtesy the surprise candidature of AICC general secretary and Rahul Gandhi’s man Friday, K C Venugopal.
‘KC’, as he is known in the state’s political circles, is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, which the BJP wrested from the Congress in the assembly elections last December, and his tenure lasts till 2026. If KC wins in Alappuzha, he will have to relinquish his seat in the upper house of Parliament. And that would be a booster for the BJP, which is just four seats short of majority in the Rajya Sabha. The Left Democratic Front has been raising this bogey, especially among the minority communities that have a significant influence in this constituency.
KC is one of the ‘national leaders’ in the fray this year, along with the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Annie Raja. And this stature is certainly helping him bridge the five-year ‘gap’ with Alappuzha, which had elected him to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014, and the state assembly in 1996, 2001 and 2006.
That KC managed to maintain his local connections developed during his previous stints here as an MP and MLA will work to the advantage of this former Union minister of state in the UPA II government. However, ironically, the weak organisational structure of the Congress has turned out to be a worry for the AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation. Moreover, KC faces equally strong opponents this time – sitting MP A M Ariff of the CPM and Sobha Surendran of the BJP.