After the Communist Party of India (CPI) announced senior party leader Annie Raja as a candidate for Wayanad, Annie Raja said that in Kerala the fight is between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), adding that the situation is the same and nothing has changed.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday announced candidates for four Kerala Lok Sabha seats, nominating senior party leader Annie Raja to contest from the Wayanad constituency, a seat presently held by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"For such a long time, CPI - under the LDF alliance - is contesting on the four seats...This time also, the party has announced its candidates for all these four constituencies. In Kerala, the fight is between LDF and UDF. So, there is nothing new in that...The situation is the same, nothing has changed," Raja told ANI on Monday.
Earlier in 2019, the CPI contested against Rahul Gandhi. We have been contesting elections from there for a very long time," she added.
Notably, Pannian Raveendran has been nominated from Thiruvananthapuram, VS Sunil Kumar from Thrissur, and Arun Kumar from Mavelikara.
Congress' Rahul Gandhi is currently the MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is part of the INDIA bloc, which came into existence to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam said that this is a political battle.
"North India is considered the hotbed of India from where the maximum number of MPs have come to the Parliament, where BJP is a powerful force to fight. Forgetting that reality, what is the political logic for the Congress to come to southmost India, to Kerala, where there are just 20 seats?" Viswam told reporters.
Rahul Gandhi was afraid of BJP: CPI MP
He further asked in this crucial battle of elections, who is the "main enemy of the Congress party, the RSS-led BJP or Left?" "It is known to everybody that no one from the BJP will be able to win from Kerala. From where should he fight exactly? The essence of the earlier battle of 2019 is there when Rahul Gandhi did the same thing when he came to Wayanad from Amethi. BJP started a campaign which got the cash. They said Rahul Gandhi was afraid of the BJP that's why he ran to Kerala. This campaign resulted in the defeat of Congress in the entire North India," he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala has a total of 20 Lok Sabha seats.
