‘Rahul Gandhi Was Inaccessible,’ Says Wayanad Congress Leader As He Joins BJP

Wayanad District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretary P.M. Sudhakaran joined BJP on Saturday. Wayanad Is Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha Constituency. Kerala votes on April 26.

Wayanad District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretary P.M. Sudhakaran joined BJP on Saturday.

Former Wayanad District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretary P.M. Sudhakaran joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, following his resignation from the Congress. 

Wayanad District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretary PM Sudhakaran joins BJP, soon after tendering his resignation from the Congress party.

(Source: BJP) pic.twitter.com/peVuo3RwpA

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Sudhakaran’s departure from the Congress came a week before all 20 seats of the state vote in the ongoing Lok Sabha election. Wayanad is currently represented by Rahul Gandhi, who is seeking re-election from the seat.

According to PTI, while addressing the media after joining the BJP, Sudhakaran said Rahul Gandhi was inaccessible to the district leaders of the party.

“If he is inaccessible to me, imagine the situation of a common man. He was given five years. If we give another term, it will destroy the development prospects of Wayanad,” Sudhakaran was quoted as saying by PTI.

The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front has fielded senior CPI leader Annie Raja from Wayanad, while state BJP chief K. Surendran has been named the saffron party’s nominee against the Congress. 

Wayanad was one of two constituencies from where Rahul Gandhi contested in 2o19. He also contested from family bastion Amethi as the incumbent, but lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani.

On Saturday, during a rally in Maharashtra’s Nanded, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress is waiting for the voting in Wayanad, following which the party will declare another “safe seat” for their “sahibzada”. “After losing Amethi, the Congress’ sahibzada will lose Wayanad as well. So, he will have to look for a safe seat after April 26.”

Some I.N.D.I.A bloc leaders, he said, had left the Lok Sabha and moved to the Rajya Sabha as they “did not have the courage to contest the Lok Sabha election”.

“For the first time, the family will not vote for a Congress candidate in the constituency where they live as there is no party candidate there,” he added.

This was seen as a jibe at Sonia Gandhi, who bowed out of the Lok Sabha election from her bastion Rae Bareli to enter the Rajya Sabha. Rae Bareli was the only seat won by the Congress in UP in 2019.

Modi said, “the truth is that Congress leaders have already accepted defeat even before the announcement of elections”.