The Congress on Wednesday ruled out a ‘friendly fight’ in Kerala and said that the party is fighting in all 20 constituencies of the southern state against the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), which happens to be its partner in the opposition INDIA alliance.
“There is huge enthusiasm even after 5 years… I don’t know why the CPI or CPM is sending the candidate to contest against him (Rahul Gandhi). He is the sitting MP from Wayanad. We all the leaders of Kerala of the UDF not only the Congress demanded that he has to contest from here. There is no friendly fight in Kerala, in all constituencies, we are fighting against the CPM-led LDF. In some 2-3 seats, the BJP presence is there but they are irrelevant in Kerala politics,” Kerala’s leader of opposition V Satheesan told ANI.
Satheesan’s remark comes after Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad, a seat he currently represents in the Lok Sabha. “This election is a fight for the soul of India; it is a fight to preserve our democracy from the forces of hatred, corruption, and injustice that seek to suppress the voice of Bharat Mata,” the 53-year-old former Congress president said after filing his nomination.
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Rahul Gandhi will be contesting against BJP state president K Surendran and CPI leader Annie Raja from Wayanad. In the 2019 elections, the Congress leader had defeated his nearest CPI rival PP Suneer by over 4.31 lakh vote.
The ruling Left had objected to Gandhi contesting from the Kerala constituency, with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan openly attacking the Congress MP.
“Rahul Gandhi is coming to Kerala and contesting against Annie Raja. She is a national leader of the CPI. She was called anti-national during the Manipur violence for strongly calling out the BJP government’s wrongdoing. It was her fact-finding system that brought to light the cruelty of the Christian population. What was the role of Rahul Gandhi in that? Can he say anything about that?” Vijayan had said.
Single phase elections in Kerala to 20 Lok Sabha seats will be held on April 26. In the outgoing House, Congress-led UDF has 19 MPs from the state.
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