Ending speculations, Congress on Sunday announced that party president Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala along with Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement was made by senior party leader AK Antony at a press conference in New Delhi.
Soon after the announcement, the CPI (M) said that it views the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from its turf as nothing but a fight against Left.
Reacting to Congress’ latest move, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said: “He's fighting in one of the 20 constituencies in Kerala and doesn't need to be seen as any different. We will fight him”
“ He should have contested from a constituency where BJP is contesting, it's nothing but a fight against Left”, he added.
CPI(M) ex-General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the decision of Congress to field Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad shows their priority now is to fight against Left in Kerala.
“It goes against Congress' national commitment to fight BJP, as in Kerala it's LDF which is the main force fighting BJP there”, he said.
“To pick a candidate like Rahul Gandhi against Left means that Congress is going to target the Left in Kerala. This is something which we will strongly oppose and in this election we will work to ensure the defeat of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad”, he further said.
Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded PP Suneer as its candidate in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
While announcing Rahul’s twin candidature, AK Antony explained that they have chosen Wayanad because of its geographical significance, as it is a trijunction of three southern states. It is situated in Kerala, but also surrounded by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.