The assembly elections in Kerala is only a month away and Congress’ troubles have already started mounting. According to reports, 4 leaders from Rahul Gandhi’s constituency Wayanad have called it quits and some are set to join the CPI (M) in the state.
Those who resigned from the party in the past one week are Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) secretary M.S. Viswanthan, Mahila Congress state secretary Sujaya Venugopal, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) general secretary P.K. Anil Kumar and KPCC member K.K. Viswanathan.
Congress leaders M.S. Viswanathan and Sujaya, who have quit Congress from Wayanad are reportedly set to join the CPIM. Sujaya, taking a dig at Congress, said that he had not been given his due consideration during the last two assembly elections in Kerala.
Vishwanathan, another tall leader who quit the Congress said that he was miffed that the Kuruma community was not represented adequately in the ticket distribution.
“Kuruma community has been neglected in seat sharing exercise. I have the support of my community. The posts of DCC president and the legislator are held by one person. I had already expressed my dissent much earlier”, he said.
The troubles of the Congress party in Wayanad does not end there. According to a report in The Indian Express, former DCC president A V Gopinath has threatened to contest against Youth Congress state president from Palakkad Shafi Parambil. He has said that he was informed that he would act as the DCC president but since that decision has been torpedoed, he will quit the party if a decision is not reached within 2 days. If the Congress party fails to retain Gopinath, their troubles in Kerala would only mount. Reportedly, Gopinath is a member of Peringottukurussi panchayat and if he quits, there are 11 members of the panchayat who have decided to quit with him.
While Congress crumbles in Kerala and especially, in Rahul Gandhi’s star constituency of Wayanad, their state leaders have now claimed that the crisis has been averted and that there would be no further resignations. Given the importance of Wayanad for Rahul Gandhi and Congress, leaders had rushed to the area to ensure that tempers are calmed and the impending embarrassment to the party and Rahul Gandhi is averted. However, the current spate of resignations only seems to be the beginning of the fall of Congress and Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad.
Right before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from the Wayanad constituency had not gone down well with the CPI(M) which had mocked Gandhi for his decision by calling him “Pappu”. CPI(M) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had also labelled the Gandhi scion as “Amul Baby”.
In Kerala, Rahul Gandhi and his Congress had, at the time, allied with Indian Union Muslim League. The IUML is a successor of the All India Muslim League that had demanded the partition of India and was successful in doing so. The party was found involved in the planning as well as the execution of the brutal Marad massacre in Kerala in 2003 as per the report of Justice Thomas P Joseph Commission which was set up to investigate the incident. The report had declared the massacre as “a clear communal conspiracy, with Muslim fundamentalist and terrorist organisations involved”.
