New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (CPI), a member of the Indian opposition alliance, has announced its candidate for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. The special thing is that this is the parliamentary constituency of senior leader of Congress, the main party of this alliance, Rahul Gandhi. But with the Left declaring its candidate on that seat, the situation has become quite complicated. Ani Raja is going to stand as CPI candidate from there. He says what will Rahul Gandhi get by standing on that seat?
While talking to journalists, Ani Raja also spoke openly on seat sharing in Kerala. He said that in the last few years, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is turning into UDF (United-Democratic-Front) in the state. There is no India alliance here. In 2019, CPI had contested the elections from Wayanad seat.
He asked the journalists, what do you have to say about contesting elections against Rahul Gandhi? Then instead of giving a direct answer, he asked what benefit would Congress or Rahul Gandhi gain from contesting elections from Kerala?
He said that the left parties in the country are fighting against extremist forces and Congress has many options for safe seats. He can contest elections from many seats in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Telangana. If we see the whole picture, we will know what is the politics of Congress? If he thinks even a little seriously, he will realize that we are fighting the forces of execution. Congress must definitely think about this. We are not fighting for hundreds of seats. That’s it! We are fighting from some seats.
Despite this, Congress is not giving any clarification regarding Rahul's seat. It is being said in media reports that now instead of Wayanad, Rahul will contest from any seat in Karnataka or Telangana. Indira Gandhi won the election from Chikmagalur seat of Telangana. Both Telangana and Karnataka have Congress governments. In 2019, Rahul contested from Amethi, originally Jawaharlal Nehru's seat, but lost to BJP's Smriti Irani.