In Wayanad for a long haul: Priyanka

Proving CPI’s worst fears true, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has made it clear that instead of being a “migratory bird” (meaning one who is a temporary phenomenon), she is in Wayanad for a long haul.

Priyanka Gandhi, who recently won the bypoll from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, on Saturday embarked on a two-day visit of the constituency in the course of which she plans to touch all the assembly segments of the Lok Sabha seat.

Accompanied by her brother Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP, Priyanka on Saturday covered four Assembly constituencies. Tomorrow, her engagements will shift to the three remaining constituencies.

"The purpose of her tour is to connect with the people of the constituency directly,” a senior party leader from Kerala said.

“I am in Parliament for you. It is your voice that I will raise, it is your problems that I will try to resolve, it is your beliefs, your values, your hopes and your aspirations that I will stand for each and every day from now until the end,” Priyanka Gandhi said while speaking at a joint public meeting with her brother Rahul Gandhi at Mukkam in Wayanad district.

Four out the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala is allocated to CPI by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front. These include the Thiruvananthapuram seat besides Wayanad, Mavelikara and Thrissur. The CPI won the Thiruvananthapuram seat on a number of occasions before including 2004.

However, it has been losing in Thiruvananthapuram ever since Congress heavyweight Shashi Tharoor started contesting from the seat in 2009. Tharoor recently recorded his fourth straight win from the constituency.

Wayanad is also promising to turn into another nightmare for CPI. After the high profile Annie Raja – wife of the party general secretary D Raja – lost to Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 general elections by a margin of over three lakh votes, the CPI fielded a new candidate against Priyanka in the byelection hoping he would bring down the margin of defeat. But, Sathysan Mokeri lost to Priyanka Gandhi by a bigger margin of over four lakh votes.

The CPI lost in Thrissur and Mavelikara seats of Kerala also in the last general elections. But the party hopes to make a comeback in these seats. Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram pose a much more difficult challenge because of the stature of Congress leaders contesting from these seats.

The CPI contested 30 seats across the country in the last General Election and won two (both in Tamil Nadu). Though Congress and the CPI are rivals in Kerala, it hurts the CPI when Congress fields its top leaders against CPI candidates.

While top Congress leaders such as the late Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi too has fought and won from Lok Sabha seats from the southern state of Karnataka, they did not stick to these constituencies.

However, in the case of Priyanka Gandhi, the plan of Congress seems to project her as the party’s face in the south.