After Priyanka’s mega roadshow, Left candidate puts up lackluster one

Wayanad, Oct 24 : A day after Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi’s roadshow turned out to be the biggest-ever event in the hilly district of Wayanad ahead of her nomination filing, on Thursday it was the turn of the CPI candidate Sathyan Mokeri.

In contrast to the Congress’ mega event on Wednesday, Sathyan Mokeri marched down the road with a small group of Left supporters to submit his nomination papers.

This is going to be Priyanka Gandhi’s debut election when voters queue up on November 13 to cast their votes.

However, 71-year-old Mokeri is a seasoned CPI leader and gave a tough time to the winning Congress candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he lost by around 15,000 votes.

The veteran leader expressed confidence that he would win the election.

“We all witnessed the Wayanad landslide disaster in July. Did we have an MP then? This is why we are always saying that our MP should be available here all the time for the people. My performance in 2014 is there for all to see and that’s why we are saying that there is a chance for us this time,” said Mokeri.

Incidentally, during the April 26 Lok Sabha polls, some confusion had broken out after the CPI fielded Annie Raja, wife of party Secretary D. Raja.

At that time Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the candidature of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and asked why he would contest against an INDIA Bloc ally.

Similar sentiments were aired by a section of the CPI leaders over the rationale between an electoral battle between allies.

While on Wednesday Priyanka Gandhi was accompanied by a galaxy of top Congress leaders including her mother Sonia Gandhi who was visiting the state after a decade, on Thursday Mokeri was accompanied by a handful of leaders including state party Secretary Binoy Viswam, Annie Raja, State Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran and local leaders.

Challenging these two, is the BJP’s young Kozhikode Corporation party Councillor Navya Haridas, a former software engineer who quit her job and plunged into full-time politics.

The bypoll in Wayanad was necessitated after senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat in favour of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi won the 2019 General Elections with a margin of 4.60 lakh votes from Wayanad which came down to 3.64 lakh in this year’s polls.

Wayanad constituency is spread across seven Assembly constituencies in three districts — Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode.

Of the seven, four are held by the Congress-led UDF, two by the CPI(M) and one was won by the Left-backed Independent legislator P.V. Anvar who has now split up with the ruling Left and floated his own party.