New Delhi: Sensing trouble for himself from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, a seat considered one-time to be Gandhi family bastion, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has now decided to also contest the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in Kerala, a seat having a decisive chunk of Muslim and Christian minority votes.
Making this announcement here to mediapersons, senior party leader AK Antony and the party’s communications incharge, Randeep Singh Surjewala said that conceding to popular demand, the party president has decided to also contest from Wayanad in Kerela.
It may be mentioned here that there were strong indications that Gandhi will contest from a seat in the south and Wayanad was mentioned as a possible choice.
Gandhi, who has been representing Amethi, won the seat by a reduced margin in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by defeating Union Minister Smriti Irani and she is challenging him again in the constituency in the 2019 elections.
Justifying the decision, Surjewala said Gandhi will be contesting from a seat that in a way represents three southern states.
“It will be a message of unity of the the north and the south,” he said.
Surjewala accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of causing divisions and said that the lives of people in south India was important to the Congress.
He also said that Gandhi has “family ties” with Amethi and the “BJP’s dirty conspiracies cannot break it”.
Asked which seat will Gandhi retain if he wins both in Amethi and Wayanad, Surjewala said that when the Congress forms a government following the polls, the party President will represent the entire country.