D Raja has raised questions on Rahul Gandhi contesting elections from Wayanad.
New Delhi:
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja said on Thursday that it is the Congress's prerogative to field Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad, but the public opinion is that a leader of his stature should contest from such a seat. Where he would directly challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). From Wayanad, CPI has fielded Raja's wife Annie Raja as its candidate against Rahul Gandhi.
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In an interview to 'PTI-Bhasha', Raja said in the context of the opposition alliance 'India' that it is natural to have some differences, but this alliance has presented an alternative agenda before the people. Regarding the nomination of Annie Raja as the candidate in Wayanad against Rahul Gandhi, the Left leader said, “The public is of the opinion that a leader of his stature should have contested the elections against the BJP, because we are facing ideological, political and political issues at the national and state level. Fighting politically with BJP.
Raja said, “Kerala is a state where the main electoral contest is between LDF and UDF and there are only 20 seats. Our party CPI within the LDF gets four seats to contest… The state unit has unanimously proposed candidates for four seats and the national leadership of the party has approved it.
Raja said, “Now it is for the Congress party to decide what it wants to do because it is the prerogative of any political party to select a candidate or region of its choice.” There is a government and the Congress-led UDF is the main opposition. He said that if Rahul Gandhi wanted to contest from any seat from the southern part of India, he could have chosen a seat from Karnataka or Telangana and could have directly challenged the BJP there too.
Amid reports of CPI's state unit in Jharkhand preparing to contest the elections alone, Raja said that talks are ongoing. He also said that Bihar's Nitish Kumar's party Janata Dal (United) leaving the 'India' alliance was a betrayal.
