A day after Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to contest the Lok Sabha election from his State, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri said he had already requested Mr. Gandhi to contest from Tamil Nadu.
“There is a divide between the south and the north in the country, and it has widened under the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It could be bridged if Rahul Gandhi contests and is elected from Tamil Nadu. I told him he could not be confined to the State of Uttar Pradesh,” Mr. Alagiri told The Hindu .
The TNCC president said he had asked Mr. Gandhi to consider the request while travelling with him from Tamil Nadu to Thiruvananthapuram on March 13. “He just smiled when I told him [this]. I will ask him again while meeting him on March 18,” Mr. Alagiri said.
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Unlike in Karnataka, from where Mr. Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi were elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999 and 1978, respectively, the Nehru family has not contested from Tamil Nadu till date. The closest it came to doing so was when there was a plan to field Indira Gandhi in the Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency in 1979. “Initially, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran agreed to her contesting from Thanjavur. Even the posters were ready. He, however, changed his mind following a veiled threat from the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, claiming that her candidature would cause a law and order problem,” said Congress spokesperson A. Gopanna.
“Congress fielded Singaravadivelu and he won with MGR’s support. But the strained relationship led to the Congress forming an alliance with the DMK in the 1980 election,” he said.
Congress leaders feel that if Mr. Gandhi comes forward to contest from T.N., Kanniyakumari would be an ideal seat. Political commentators differ. “It will be strategic for Rahul to contest from Karnataka. It can energise the party machinery and give them a sweep,” said commentator Badri Seshadri.
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Though Mr. Gandhi and Ms. Sonia had decided to contest from Uttar Pradesh, he said there seemed to be an “inner concern” that the Congress leaders should contest second seats from south India. “Karnataka is safer,” he said, but added that it was not merely the fear of failure that prompted leaders to contest from two seats. In 2014, Narendra Modi could have won from any seat in Gujarat. But he contested from Varanasi, to tell the cadre and voters that U.P. was important. “It can really energise the party cadre. Rahul can do that in Karnataka, but not in Tamil Nadu, where they depend on the DMK. The call to get him to contest here is partly sycophancy,” he said.
‘Pure sychophancy’
“It is pure sychophancy,” said Prof. Ramu Manivannan, Head, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras. The Congress has to become a party with a larger democratic base and not rely on sycophancy, he said. The Congress had only 3% of votes in Tamil Nadu. Asking their party president to contest here would put him in a difficult position, he said. “It will be risky as Rahul will have to answer questions from the people on what he has done for Tamil Nadu,” he added.
On Saturday, Congress members filed applications on behalf of Mr. Gandhi in Sivaganga, Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar, a release from the TNCC said.