New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (CPI) Monday reiterated that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should contest from Lok Sabha seat in the Hindi belt against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead of contesting against Left parties in Kerala's Wayanad.
“Yes, we believe Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should contest from another seat where a direct fight will be against BJP. In fact, he can also contest from a Hindi belt. The left parties are constituents of the INDIA bloc, and in Wayanad, we have a strong presence. So instead of contesting against Left parties, Rahul Gandhi should contest from another place,” said CPI national secretary K Narayana to ETV Bharat on Monday.
Sources in the party said that in the recently held national executive meeting of CPI in New Delhi, many of the leaders have explored this suggestion that Rahul Gandhi should contest from another seat and avoid a direct fight against the Left candidate in Wayanad. “In our internal national executive meeting, we discussed the issue. However, we have not approached the Congress with our idea,” CPI sources said.
According to Narayana, in Wayanad, there is a direct contest between Congress and Left candidates. “When we are the constituents of the INDIA alliance, Rahul Gandhi should contest from another seat whether in South India or in any Hindi belt,” he said. The CPI had its national executive meeting on September 19 and 20 where they discussed the party’s strategy in forging alliance with the INDIA bloc alliances.
The party believes that the formation of the INDIA bloc is a significant step forward in defence of the secular democratic character of India as it will be able to replace the BJP from central and state governments. The meeting also explored the idea of approaching all INDIA bloc alliances for a better understanding over State-specific seat sharing.
Echoing this, another CPI leader Atul Anjan said that the Congress should contest from another seat instead of having a direct fight with the CPI in Wayanad. “They should think over the idea because Congress is the bigger ally of the INDIA bloc. And in a political understanding, it’s very much necessary to look for one another when our rival is only one, the BJP,” said Anjan.
The Wayanad seat is allotted to the CPI, which is the second biggest ally of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). Rahul Gandhi defeated CPI’s PP Suneer by over 4 lakh votes in the previous Lok Sabha election in 2019. Wayanad parliamentary constituency came into existence after the fourth delimitation in 2008. In the general elections of 2009 and 2014, Congress candidate MI Shanavas won from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency defeating a rival candidate from CPI.
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