Lok Sabha polls: Factionalism erodes Congress advantage in Kerala

The issues between the warring groups are surfacing at a time when the Congress is in an ideal condition to win the maximum number of seats

‘Mission 20/20’! This was the motto that echoed in the Congress circles in Kerala when Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Wayanad was announced last month.

For the first time, Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) workers sniffed the possibility of winning all the 20 seats in the state, riding the “Rahul effect”. However, what comes in the way of this now seems to be the eternal issue of infighting within the Congress.

Factionalism transpired when Shashi Tharoor reportedly wrote on this to AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik. Tharoor, who is in for a close fight with the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram, indicated that the local