A sleepy constituency in a tiny corner of Kerala has hit the headlines since 2019 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from there as a backup because his victory in home borough Amethi was not a certainty. Wayanad did indeed prove to be the saving grace for the Gandhi scion as he was edged out of Amethi by Smriti Irani of the BJP. His decision to contest from Wayanad also turned out to be a boost for the Congress in Kerala as the party-led United Democratic Front won 19 of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Now Wayanad is back in the news for very different reasons. It typifies all that ails the INDIA bloc, an alliance riddled with contradictions as is evident from the fact that allies are contesting against each other in Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab to name a few states. While Rahul Gandhi is again contesting the Wayanad seat after some initial reports about him shifting his constituency, his closest rival is a member of the INDIA alliance, CPI leader Annie Raja. There has been a lot of sniping about Rahul’s candidature by Left leaders though he is the sitting MP from the seat. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has accused him of running scared of fighting the BJP by opting for Kerala instead of the Hindi heartland. Annie Raja, who is perhaps contesting her first Lok Sabha poll, has said Rahul is weakening the INDIA alliance by contesting against her, forgetting that he had the first claim on the seat as the sitting MP. Five years ago no such reservations were expressed.
The Congress-versus-Left dynamic in Kerala is quite strange as they are alliance partners in the rest of India, including West Bengal. However, in the southern state the knives are out among the two parties. While Rahul took a dig at Vijayan wondering why when other Opposition chief ministers such as Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren are in jail, the Kerala CM has managed to evade prison bars, implying a tacit deal with the BJP. Vijayan hit back accusing Rahul’s grandmother of incarcerating Left leaders during the Emergency. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a strident attack on the Kerala CM. Not to be left behind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also waded in, warning voters that Rahul Gandhi will flee Wayanad too just as he deserted Amethi. The Congress is, however, yet to announce its candidate for the constituency amid strong speculation that Rahul will indeed contest the seat again. By fielding state BJP chief K Surendran in Wayanad, the saffron party too has raised the stakes. The election in the southern state is a do-or-die battle for the BJP which has so far not managed to win a single seat in Kerala. Its push for 370 seats in the next Lok Sabha has surely factored in a contribution from Kerala. Hence the frequent visits by PM Modi to woo the electorate. Before the election on 26 April one can expect a blitz from the ruling party at the Centre with star campaigners descending on ‘God’s Own Country’. The UDF is still banking on Rahul Gandhi’s charisma to see it through and all surveys point to a UDF win perhaps with fewer seats than 2019.
Meanwhile, INDIA bloc rifts continue to mount with Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee accusing the Congress and Left of having a tacit deal with the BJP in Bengal. Mamata unilaterally announcing candidates for all 42 seats in the state without any consultations with her INDIA alliance partners was perhaps a misstep prompted by supreme overconfidence. Her decision may well prove costly as the split in votes between the TMC, Congress and CPM could benefit the BJP which is eyeing a larger share of votes and seats in the eastern state to reach its ambitious target of 370 plus seats as it has touched saturation levels in North India and Gujarat. An INDIA rally in Ranchi saw some conspicuous absentees including Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury and Rahul Gandhi (ostensibly due to ill health). The next big task for the Opposition grouping is presenting a common manifesto for the general election. Efforts are on to rope in the Trinamool leader to back this document but it remains to be seen if the differences in the bloc can be ironed out. If the aim is to oust the BJP regime, all efforts have to be made to ensure that a joint front is presented to the electorate to convince them of the viability of the INDIA alliance.
