It's Rahul Gandhi vs Annie Raja in Kerala's Wayanad parliamentary constituency. Though dates for the Lok Sabha polls are expected to be announced by the Election Commission of India shortly, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Annie Raja has already kick-started her campaign.
As the two big names of the opposition INDIA bloc clash in Wayanad, Rahul has again come under fire from the LDF for choosing to pit himself in a seat where his main opponent is an INDIA bloc candidate.
His now-rival Annie Raja, the CPI national executive member and general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, had wished that "good sense will prevail" after her candidature had been announced. Unfortunately, it didn't. The blame squarely falls on both the UDF and the LDF.
“We have announced our candidates and we are contesting to win seats because we need to be at the forefront of the fight against fascist forces. Now it is for the Congress to decide, they can put any candidate that is their right but we hope that good sense will prevail,” she had told The Wire after being nominated for the seat.
CPI general secretary D Raja said that Gandhi and the Congress must seriously introspect about whom they consider their primary target, the BJP or the Left.
"Rahul Gandhi's stature is such that he should have fought (the polls) from any other seat, directly confronting the BJP," the CPI leader, who is the husband of Annie Raja, said.
But then, even in 2019, Rahul had contested against a CPI candidate. The difference this time is, the LDF has fielded a well-known face.
For the LDF's allegation, Indian Union Muslim League leader and ex-MLA C Mammotty has a reply. "The LDF should have thought twice before fielding a national leader like Annie Raja in a constituency such as Wayanad where the Congress party candidates have always had a cakewalk," he told TNIE Online.
Wayanad is a citadel of the Congress party, he emphasised.
Wayanad parliamentary constituency
The Wayanad parliamentary constituency predominantly comprises of tribals, the marginalized and the minority communities.
Of the seven assembly segments in the constituency, two, namely Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery, are reserved for the ST community while Wandoor is set aside for SC candidates.
Further, four of the seven assembly segments are with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), while 3 with the LDF.
Mananthavady and Thiruvambady elected CPI (M) candidates to the assembly in the 2021 polls, Sulthan Bathery, Kalpetta and Wandoor elected Congress candidates. Ernad is with the UDF ally IUML while Nilambur with an LDF-backed independent.
Wayanad sent Congress leader MI Shanavas to the Lok Sabha twice in 2009 and 2014.
In 2019, Rahul Gandhi was elected from the constituency after he defeated P P Suneer of the CPI by a whopping 4,31,770 votes. Rahul secured 706,367 votes as against Suneer's 274,597 votes. The BJP-backed BDJS candidate Thushar Vellappally could manage only 78,816 votes.
A lot has changed, insists the LDF
While stats favour the UDF, the Wayanad CPI (M) district secretary P Gagarin put up a bold face. He said that a lot has changed since 2019.
"The voters here feel let down by Rahul Gandhi," he said. Most importantly, the MP was not available in the constituency whenever the people needed him most, he claimed.
"Annie Raja," he added, "who was part of the fact-finding team to the violence-hit Manipur is familiar with the people here." As she herself claims, her home in Aralam panchayat is hardly an hour away.
Mammotty countered this argument saying that a national leader like Rahul Gandhi has ensured that he visited the constituency, especially during times of catastrophe or tragedy like the floods or man-animal conflict.
"He was with the people of the contituency whenever the situation necessitated his presence," Mammotty added.
Gagarin refuses to buy the argument. He says people voted for Rahul last time expecting him to solve the issues faced by the people. But in the last five years, he has failed to intervene effectively to solve the burning issues of the constituency, he added.
The issues
The man-animal conflict, night travel ban on Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway which passes through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, railway connectivity and the livelihood issues of the tribals and farmers are the serious problems faced by the people. The promises made by Rahul Gandhi in 2019 remains only on paper, Gagarin insisted.
However, Rahul Gandhi's website lists the initiatives undertaken by the MP for the constituency. This includes: Projects worth Rs. 4.61 crores sanctioned under MPLADS for 2019-2020, flood relief work and visit to relief camps post floods. Relief kits delivered to over 18,000 families.
The website claims that Rahul wrote to the Reserve Bank of India to extend the moratorium on repayment of farm loans post the floods, raised the the issue of night traffic ban on NH-766 with the Union Government and State Government. Also raised the issue in Parliament. He also said that he raised the issue of Nanjangode Nilambur railway line in Parliament.
Importantly, in 2019, Rahul had managed to net a chunk of LDF votes. Gagarin says this is not going to happen this time around.
There are other questions like people's resentment against the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which partly is media-made and partly real, and to what extent it would impact the voters. All this could spice up the contest this time.
Interestingly, the BJP is yet to announce its candidate. Even if it is to field someone like tribal leader CK Janu, Wayanad is likely to witness a no-holds barred fight between the two leaders of the INDIA bloc, with coalition dharma set aside.