The United Democratic Front (UDF) camp in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency became alive once again on Sunday noon, after 10 days of uncertainty, when Congress leader A.K. Antony announced the candidature of party president Rahul Gandhi from the constituency.
The UDF workers celebrated the announcement by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets. They took out marches even in small towns in the constituency.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the candidature of Mr. Gandhi would help the Congress bag maximum seats in the southern States. Reacting to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s criticism of the decision, Mr. Chennithala said Mr. Vijayan had started panicking.
‘Challenge accepted’
“At the national level, Congress’s rival is the BJP. But in Kerala our opponent is the CPI(M). A prime ministerial candidate is contesting from the State for the first time. Both, Kerala and Wayanad will become focal points in the polls,” he said.
Mr. Chennithala said both the UDF and the Congress had accepted the challenge thrown by the Chief Minister, who said that the LDF would work to defeat Mr. Gandhi in Wayanad.
Hailing the decision, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said the location of Wayanad at a tri-junction of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, made it the prefect constituency for Mr. Gandhi to contest from. “This sends out a message against the discriminatory stance of the BJP towards south India,” he said.
Request to CPI(M)
Asserting that the Congress was the only party capable of taking on the BJP, he urged the CPI(M) to desist from a direct fight against the party in Wayanad. He parried queries on whether Mr. Gandhi would retain the constituency if he won from both Amethi and Wayanad.
Kozhikode District Congress Committee president T. Siddique, who was initially the UDF candidate for Wayanad, said the decision of Mr. Gandhi had executed a ‘surgical strike’ on Congress opponents. “All UDF workers would work for his record victory.”
I.C. Balakrishnan, MLA, and Wayanad DCC president, said Mr. Gandhi would provide a new impetus to the election campaign of UDF in the entire State.
