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Left gets ready with its salvos as Wayanad voters pin their hopes on Rahul

Euphoria runs high in this constituency, which the Congress had won in both 2009 and 2014; Left parties, in their bid to wrest power, plan to dwell on Rahul Gandhi's 'failures' in Amethi

Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi's poster at Wayanad DCC Office, put up soon after his candidature was announced
Gireesh Babu Kalpetta (Wayanad)
11 min read Last Updated : Apr 10 2019 | 12:25 PM IST
Whatever the reasons that led Congress President Rahul Gandhi to contest from Kerala’s most backward district, Wayanad, the move has rekindled long-pending dreams of some people in this constituency. With Rahul Gandhi visiting Wayanad with sister Priyanka to file his nomination on April 4, the Congress party in the state was euphoric.
 
The district, which so far does not have a railway line, or easy access to the nearest town throughout the day, and most importantly, a medical college, is pinning its hopes on the biggest candidate it has seen to date to fulfil these wishes.

"I have so far voted only for the Communist Party. This time, all in my family will vote for Rahul Gandhi, for he alone can bring that change to Wayanad," says Ahmed Manikothu, a shopkeeper in Kalpetta. For the Gandhi scion, this is a golden opportunity to fulfil Wayanad's bucket list of long-pending demands. 

The rider is that Gandhi will need to win the election, and his party will have to take a majority and form the government. And, above all, Gandhi will have to retain Wayanad as his constituency, should he win both this seat and Amethi.  

Deciphering Wayanad

The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven Assembly constituencies — Mananthavadi, Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta from Wayanad district, Thiruvambadi from Kozhikode and Earnad, Nilambur and Vandur from Malappuram district. It is also a tri-state junction where Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu meet. 

Politicians from the district say that around 33 per cent of the population in the constituency is that of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) people, and almost 40 per cent of the population relies on agriculture, including cultivation of spices, coffee and tea, for its livelihood. Three of the seven constituencies are reserved for SCs and STs. Almost 50 per cent of the population is either Muslim or Christian.  

The access to Wayanad district from other parts of Kerala is through the Nilgiri Hills, and itr is largely at the mercy of the weather. Rains often wreak havoc at dangerous hairpin bends. On the other side, the road leads to the Karnataka border and to Mysore, where transport is restricted between 9 pm and 6 am. The nearest government medical College is at Kozhikode, almost 80 km from Kalpetta, the main town in Wayanad. 

The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency was formed in 2009. In the first election, the Congress candidate, late M I Shanavas, won by a margin of 153,439 votes, garnering a total of 419,703 votes against the 257,264 votes polled by the Communist Party of India's (CPI's) M Rahmathulla. 

In the 2014 general elections, Shanavas again won the election, but this time with a narrower margin of 20,870, votes, polling 377,035 votes against his CPI rival Sathyan Mokeri's 356,165 votes. BJP candidate P R Rasmilnath was in the third position with 80,752 votes.  

According to reports, the district has 1,325,788 voters now, of whom 655,786 are men and 670,002 women. Political parties here say that around 60,000-100,000 new voters have joined this election. 

In the 2014 elections, while Mananthavadi and Sulthan Bathery saw the CPI candidate taking a lead over the Congress candidate, the other five saw Shanavas leading with a clear majority. This is where the Congress' confidence in fielding its top candidate from here might have emerged. The regions from Malappuram have more Muslims and scheduled tribes. 

Election Committee Office of Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate P P Suneer, at Vythiri, Wayanad

Euphoria wins first 

Given that Rahul Gandhi's candidature was first speculated by senior Congress leaders here, the party cadre had been waiting for a confirmation. But for many reasons, including a rumoured strong protest from CPI and CPI(M) over Gandhi spoiling some of their sure seats, there was a delay in the announcement. With Rahul filing his nomination here on April 4, Congressmen started working on a war footing. In fact, the details of the campaign and the intenerary of Gandhis' visit was made ready a day before. 

That said, the Congress leaders and workers are so confident and euphoric that they have taken Gandhi's victory as a given, and have begun speculating on the kind of lead he will have over his closest rival. 

At the District Congress Committee (DCC) office, Kalpetta, general secretary M M Ramesh told Business Standard that the aim is to clock in a 500,000-vote majority. 

C Abdul Ashraf, chairman, KPCC publicity Wing for Wayanad Parliamentary Candidate, said, "In the 2009 election we got 150,000 lead, that too when there was a rebel from the party (K Muraleedharan, son of former leader K Karunakaran) who received almost 100.000 votes. So we have 250,000-300,000 votes assured already. There are around 100,000 new young voters and we expect them to vote to Congress. Then we are counting in those neutral votes and some of the votes from other parties to flow in due to the presence of Rahul ji." 

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who visited the DCC Office, was a tad cryptic and simply said that the party was expecting a "record majority". The party expects to sweep all the 20 seats in Kerala and have a positive impact in the other states in South India as well. 

The constituency started seeing posters of Rahul Gandhi being widely pasted in public places from Wednesday, while the CPI Candidate P P Suneer has been campaigning for almost a month now.  

The party members here expect that the announcements such as on farm loan waiver and minimum income programme would address the issues of the constituency. Gandhi can well address the other issues related to the district. 

Given that the election in the State is scheduled on April 23, how much time can Gandhi spend in this constituency? The local leadership believe it doesn't matter even if he doesn't come to the constituency. "Every partyman is his representative," says Ashraf. The strategy is to do a door-to-door campaign, family meetings and bring as many voters as possible to the polling booths. Usually Wayanad polls around 80 per cent, but this time the party will work hard to take it to over 90 per cent.

Refuting allegations that the former member from the constituency hasn't done anything for the district, Ashraf said the Congress MP has brought in projects worth Rs 3,000-4,000 crore to the constituency in the past 10 years.

So, will Rahul Gandhi retain the seat if he takes both Wayanad and Amethi? Local leaders say he will retain Wayanad and may resign from Amethi, paving way for Priyanka Gandhi.

Haritha Sena member farmers protesting infront of Canara Bank, in Kalpetta against bank action against farmers under SARFAESI Act

Issues

Farmers make up almost 40 per cent of the population in the constituency and one of the major issues here is the piling debts in their accounts. Prices of pepper, coffee and other agri produce have come down and most farmers, who have between 5 cents and 5-10 acres of land, have loans unpaid. 

Haritha Sena, a non-political farmers' organisation says that around 8,370 farmers from Wayanad are in the Sarfaesi list of the banks and no government support has reached them so far. They don't believe in the minimum income promise of Congress and say what they need is a solution to address the farm loans, said James, a district committee member of the Sena, in Wayanad. The farmers are protesting outside the banks against implementation of Sarfaesi procedures.

Another issue is the long-pending demand for the Nilambur-Nanjengode railway line -- the district has no railway line or station. Then there is a demand to open transport between Karnataka and Kerala during the night. Currently, it is restricted by the courts, for the safety of wild animals. This is major issue given that access to the Mysuru market will become easier and cheaper for merchants in the district once night transport is allowed.

Then there is the threat of Naxalites in the region, due to which there is speculation in Opposition circles that Rahul Gandhi's campaign in the constituency will be limited. As a matter of fact, his plans to visit the district on a previous ocassion were curbed by the protection force mainly on this score. Almost 10 days back a Naxalite was killed in Lakkidi, located between Wayanad and Kozhikode. Because of this, Gandhi will be flown in by helicopter to Wayanad on Thursday and he doesn't have the clearance to visit the DCC office, which is a few minutes away from the spot where he lands.

Will he or can he visit the Constituency once he wins the mandate? What will be the future of the constituency in that case, the opposition asks.

Wayanad is also demanding an alternate road for travel to Kozikhide, as access to that town is impaired when there is heavy rain and landslides block the existing road. Then, of course, there is the demand for a Medical College in the district.

What lies ahead for the Communists?

The Congress' decision to field Gandhi in Wayanad will hit the Communist Parties where it hurts most. Kerala is considered as the last bastion for the party and with the Gandhi wave, its candidates would stand to lose the most. They have been holding themselves as the strong opponent for the Hindutva agenda of NDA, protecting the Muslims and Christians in the State. With Gandhi, who is placed as a direct opponent to BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this argument may not be a ticket to victory. While they claim that Gandhi won't gain much ground in Kerala, initial reactions from the Communist mouthpiece Desabhimani newspaper calling him 'Pappu' -- a moniker the BJP leadership often uses to refer to him in a demeaning manner -- in its editorial seems to indicate some worry on the part of the Left.

But in Wayanad, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is getting ready for a fight. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, head of CPI(M) and Kanan Rajendran, who leads CPI, met the workers here on Tuesday and the mandate is to expose the issues in Amethi despite Congress winning there for several years. 

"Rahul Gandhi has never contested against Communist Party anywhere. He is going to now, and we going to show him who we are," says P K Rajan, local committee member of CPI(M), Vythiri, near Kalpetta. The party alleges that while Amethi suffers almost 70 per cent power cuts, Kerala under the LDF government is able to provide power without any hindrance despite its reliance on hydro power projects and a near-drought situation in the state.

Rahul Gandhi will not be approachable by the voters after the elections, considering that even the AICC members have to wait for his appointment, the Left alleges. It is going to point out all these across the constituency now.

NDA yet to rev up?

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Thushar Vellapally, leader of Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), submitted his nomination with on Wednesday at Kalpetta. While his chances of winning the seat are considered remote from even by partymen in the constituency, contesting against Gandhi had brought in the much needed limelight on the 49-year-old candidate. BDJS was founded by his father Vellapally Natesan, general secretary of Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, in December 2015 for the welfare of Ezhava and Thighs community in the State. 

NDA changed the previous candidate in Wayanad to field Junior Vellapally against Rahul Gandhi. There were hardly any banners or posters visible from this side till Wednesday evening.

It is expected that star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi may fly down to this location to gather support to Vellapally.

BJP will bank on the development projects Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought in the last five years and expect to double the votes it gained in 2014, here, says K V Venugopal, a BJP leader and Panchayat President for Vengapally village, Wayanad.

With the newly acquired limelight, Wayanad is waiting for its long pending issues to be addressed by whoever wins and at present, many of them pin their hope on Gandhi.