Will Rahul contest from Wayanad

The big question that bothers the nation today is whether Congress President Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad, the pro-Congress constituency in the Indian state of Kerala, or not.

The Congress is expected to give an answer to this question today itself. In order to discuss several sensitive subjects including this question, the central leadership of the Congress Party is set to meet today in the national capital Delhi. Several senior leaders including the Congress President is expected to participate in the crucial meeting.

Several senior Kerala-based Congress leaders have expressed their hope that their leader would respond positively to their request to contest from their state.

Wayanad is a sure seat for the UDF led by the Congress Party. The second biggest faction in the constituency is the LDF led by the CPI (M) and CPI.

If Rahul decides to contest from the seat, his prime rival will be the leftist-led-front. Many pro-anti-saffron intellectuals opine that such a move would give a wrong message to the electorate.

Meanwhile, the dominant view is the view developed by the Congress intellectuals that the presence of Rahul Gandhi in the South Indian constituency will help the congress party increase their total number of seats in the region, where the Saffron Party is comparatively less influential than the Grand Old Party.     

The BJP is also eagerly waiting for the official announcement. There is an assumption that if the Congress Party’s central leadership responds in favour of its president’s candidature in Wayanad, the BJP leadership will bring back the seat from its ally BDJS and field a powerful leader in the seat to express their disagreement with the, so called, unofficial opposition leader.

Actually, the communist parties are at the losing end. The Congress president’s candidature means the communists will have to rewrite their narrative they have prepared for the election campaign. So far, they have taken a lenient stand against the Congress in the national level (slightly stiffer stand in the state level) and a stiffer stand against the BJP in both levels.

The communists may be forced to oppose both the Congress and the BJP equally, if the Congress president’s candidature is confirmed. In that scenario, the irrationality of supporting the Congress president’s prime ministerial candidature will become more visible.

Will the leftists find a new prime ministerial candidate for themselves? If not, where will they place them in the Indian political platform, which is at present dominated by the rightists, centre-rightists and the regionalists, and has no comfortable room for the leftists and, even, the central-leftists.     

Vignesh. S. G

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