Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi contesting in Wayanad could only be seen as a move to fight the Left parties and not the BJP, and also asserted that the LDF would defeat him in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
There was no need to attach any special importance and that the Congress chief is but one among the 20 candidates fielded by the opposition UDF who are trying their luck from Kerala, he added.
“If Gandhi's fight is against the BJP, he should have contested against the saffron party. In Kerala, the fight is between LDF and UDF in the elections," Vijayan told a meet-the-press programme at the Press Club here.
He was reacting to the announcement by Congress that Gandhi would contest from the hilly Wayanad, considered a fortress of the party, in addition to the Gandhi family's pocket burrow Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh in the polls.
"We have no anxiety. We are fully confident and will strive to defeat him in Wayanad," the CPI-M veteran said.
Gandhi had announced earlier he would retain Amethi in Uttar Pradesh as his constituency after elections, he said.
"So, it is like...Gandhi will continue as the MP from Amethi and in Wayand he is examining if he can defeat the Left", the Chief Minister said asking what message the Congress was conveying to the people through the move.
When asked about the proposed post-poll alliance with the Congress at the national level, Vijayan said it was a matter to be thought off after the elections.
BJP state chief P S Sreedharan Pillai said the Congress decision to field Gandhi from Wayanad showed the "decay" in the grand old party. "After realising that he will lose from Amethi, Gandhi has decided to contest from wayand", he told reporters here.
The BJP would give a "tough fight" to the Congress candidate, he said adding Gandhi's Wayanad contest was being viewed by the party as "acceptance of defeat".
The state Congress leaders were all in a jubilant mood over the AICC chief's decision.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala said the party's aim was to ensure Gandhi's victory with a massive margin.
"I challenge Pinarayi Vijayan to contest from Wayanad and defeat Rahul Gandhi," he told reporters at Alappuzha.
It would be a "historical win" for Gandhi in Wayanad and there would be a "Rahul wave" in the entire state, he claimed.
"A prime ministerial candidate is contesting from Kerala for the first time and this will have an impact on the entire state," he said adding the UDF would win all 20 seats.
Party's state unit President Mulapally Ramachandran said the decision to field Gandhi from Wayand would be "a happy news for secular-democratic forces" in the state.
He also remembered how former Congress presidents Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had scripted impressive victories from South India.
Congress leader M I Shanavas, who died in November last year, had won Wayanad, known for its picturesque locales and spices, in the 2009 and 2014 elections.
The LDF has decided to field CPIs P P Suneer in the constituency this time while BJP-NDA yet to announce its candidate.
Will work to defeat Rahul in Wayanad, says Karat
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) and the CPI on Sunday said the Congress' decision to field Rahul Gandhi from the Wayanad parliamentary constituency indicates that the party wants to take on the Left in Kerala and asserted that they will work to ensure his defeat.
"Their priority now is to fight against the Left in Kerala. It goes against the Congress' national commitment to fight the BJP, as in Kerala, it is the LDF which is the main force fighting the BJP there," CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat told reporters.
The party will oppose the move, he added.
"To pick a candidate like Rahul Gandhi against the Left means that the Congress is going to target the Left in Kerala. This is something which we will strongly oppose and in this election, we will work to ensure the defeat of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad," Karat said.
CPI leader D Raja also questioned the decision of the Congress, saying it made no sense.
"This makes no sense. I don't understand what politics the Congress is playing here. There is no BJP to fight in Kerala, it is the Left versus the Congress-led UDF. By choosing a constituency in Kerala for Rahul Gandhi, what message is the Congress conveying to the country," Raja asked.
"The primary objective is to defeat the BJP, how does this move help in that? We are not going to withdraw our candidate from the seat. Rahul Gandhi has to answer to the people of this country," he said.
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