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Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja questioned why the Congress has chosen to field Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad against the Left instead of pitting him directly against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Rahul Gandhi held two yatras: the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. During these two yatras, his focus was to attack and criticize the politics of the BJP and the RSS. When it comes to the electoral battle, Rahul Gandhi has not chosen to fight the BJP right away. He has chosen to fight the Left. This is what people are questioning. What message does Congress want to send out?" Raja said, speaking to ANI on Wednesday. Raja's wife, Annie Raja, is contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. Both candidates filed their nomination papers on Wednesday. The CPI General Secretary pointed out that the people of Wayanad cannot be taken for granted and have raised questions about Rahul Gandhi's candidature from the constituency. "People of Kerala cannot be taken for granted. There are certain questions raised in the public domain about why Rahul Gandhi has chosen to contest from Wayanad or why the Congress party has decided to field him against the Left in Wayanad," Raja said. The senior CPI leader said that fielding Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad is a shortsighted decision of the Congress party. "This is a shortsighted decision of the Congress party. The Congress party should think from a larger perspective of the country's future. This is what I said last time (2019 Lok Sabha elections) as well," Raja added. "Even if Congress wants him to contest from the south, there are many places. They could have chosen him to contest in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Why Wayanad?" he pointed out. Raja questioned why a Congress leader of stature like Rahul Gandhi should contest in Kerala, which has 20 seats, and the main battle is between the Left and the Congress-led UDF. "This is because everyone knows that Kerala has 20 seats and the main battle is between the LDF and the UDF. Why should Rahul Gandhi, a leader of his stature, be fielded from Wayanad? This is what people are asking," he said. While the CPI and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, the two parties are fierce contenders in Kerala, with both parties pitting their strongest candidates against each other. Rahul Gandhi bagged 706,367 votes from Wayanad with a 64.7 percent vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. CPI candidate PP Suneer, who came second, got 274,597 votes, securing a 25.1 per cent vote share. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the Congress won 15 seats, its allies, the Indian Union Muslim League, won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one, and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat. (ANI)
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