CPI meet sees divergent voices over contest in Wayanad
The Hindu
Deliberations at CPI meeting on contest in Wayanad between Annie Raja and Rahul Gandhi, highlighting party's stance on unity.
Deliberations on the recent contest in Wayanad between CPI veteran Annie Raja and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi elicited varying responses at the three-day National Council meeting of the CPI that concluded on Monday. While a section of the party articulated strongly that the CPI could have refrained from the contest for the larger good, the Kerala unit insisted that the Left party cannot be reduced to a “mute spectator”.
The CPI and the Congress are allies in the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level.
At the meeting, there was no discussion on the bypoll necessitated by Mr. Gandhi’s resignation from the seat as he chose to retain Rae Bareli, the second seat that he won in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. His sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is slated to contest from Wayanad. Though the Kerala unit of the CPI is clear that it will remain in fray, no candidate has been shortlisted.
According to sources, some CPI leaders from northern India felt the party diluted its stand on Opposition unity by contesting against Mr. Gandhi. This was in direct contradiction to the CPI’s Kerala unit’s stand, which advocated that Mr. Gandhi should face the BJP instead of contesting against an INDIA ally in Wayanad. Sources also said that Ms. Raja, who contested against Mr. Gandhi, said at the meeting that she had expressed her reservations to the party leadership after her name was finalised, on similar grounds.
When The Hindu reached out to Ms. Raja, she refused to divulge the details of the deliberations. “We have a strong inner party democracy, where each and every member has the right to express their opinion. But once the party takes a decision, all members are expected to abide by the decision,” she said. Ms. Raja has been elected a member of the national secretariat. She is the first woman leader from Kerala and the second woman in the party’s national secretariat.
The Kerala unit, however, strongly stands by the decision. “If we vacate seats in Kerala too for the well-being of the INDIA bloc, we will end up being mute spectators to a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP,” CPI Rajya Sabha MP Sandosh Kumar said. The CPI got a total of 31 lakh votes across the country, of which 2.8 lakh was polled in Wayanad alone.
The party members also expressed worries about the growing footprint of the BJP in Kerala, where according to some estimates, if the Lok Sabha election results are projected onto the Assembly segments, the BJP was ahead in 11 seats and second in eight seats.
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