Wayanad leaves Congress in a fix

The Congress party plunged into confusion as a result of the indecision of its high command on fielding AICC president Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad. The fact that filing of nomination papers for the April 23 election opened on Thursday, added to the concerns of the State party leadership about the relative disadvantages of delayed electioneering.

According to the latest information available here, the Congress central election committee which met in Delhi on Thursday, did not take the much expected decision. There was no word from any responsible party leader in Delhi on the issue. However, senior party leaders put up a brave front and continued to express optimism that Mr. Gandhi would contest from Wayanad.

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the party would accept any decision that Mr. Gandhi would take regarding Wayanad contest. The failure of the election committee to formally announce the names of candidates for Vadakara and Wayanad has also opened an unwarranted debate on the choice of candidate for the Wayanad seat.

Kozhikode District Congress Committee president T. Siddiqque’s name had been cleared for Wayanad and he had launched electioneering straight away along with K. Muraleedharan in neighbouring constituency Vadakara even though the party high command did not officially release their names.

After Mr. Gandhi’s possible contest from Wayanad hit the headlines, Mr. Siddiqque had called off his election campaign, though the Wayanad District Congress Committee went along with holding its pre-fixed election conventions. There was considerable hype and Congress workers went into a frenzy. Across the political spectrum, there was a near unanimity that Mr. Gandhi’s entry in Wayanad will be a game changer.

The interesting part is that none of the senior leaders really know the reasons for indecisiveness about Mr. Gandhi’s contest or are not willing to disclose it if they are privy to it. But lower level party functionaries have started expressing their apprehension about the delay in the decision.

Both the Malappuram and Wayanad District Congress presidents V.V. Prakash and I.C. Balakrishnan respectively did not hide their concern at the negative impact on party workers in case Mr. Gandhi’s contest did not materialise.