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Subhashini Ali, a leader of the CPI (M) that is part of the INDIA alliance on Tuesday questioned the candidature of Rahul Gandhi who is contesting from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Annie Raja, asking why the Congress leader is not fighting the BJP head-on.
Shubhashini, while speaking to ANI said that the Wayanad sitting MP should fight from the BJP's bastion- Uttar Pradesh. "Congress Party is claiming that they are leading the joint fight against the BJP. Then why is their biggest leader contesting elections from Kerala, where there is no fight with the BJP? He should fight from Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP has the biggest stronghold. If he defeats the BJP there, it will have a huge impact," she said. She further said that Rahul Gandhi should think about what message he is giving by fighting the election from Wayanad. On Monday, the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also slammed Rahul Gandhi for contesting in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency against Annie Raja. Addressing the media ahead of the election campaign in Kozhikode, the Chief Minister said, "Rahul Gandhi is contesting against Annie Raja, who is a well-known left leader nationally. She strongly called out the Bharatiya Janata Party's government (BJP) in the Manipur issue and she was attacked by calling her anti-national. But what is Rahul Gandhi's role in this? We can see Annie Raja's presence in every protest that is happening in the country. But we can't see Rahul Gandhi, a prominent leader in Congress, among such protesters." Both Rahul Gandhi and Annie Raja are contesting from Wayanad constituency. The BJP has fielded Kerala State President K Surendran as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from the constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi won from Wayanad with a huge margin of over 4.31 lakh votes; the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. He secured 64.94 per cent vote share defeating LDF candidate PP Suneer. The NDA had fielded BDJ(S) leader Tushar Vellapally who secured just around 78,000 votes which accounted for a mere 7.25 per cent. (ANI)
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