Kalpetta: If the ocean of people gathered at Kalpetta to witness the historic moment of Congress president Rahul Gandhi filing nomination papers from a Kerala constituency is any indication, then the 'Wayanad war' is already won hands down by the UDF.
Rahul is the first Gandhi family member and Congress president contesting Lok Sabha elections from 'God's own country' and this surgical strike by the Congress has an electrifying effect on the party workers. This was obviously visible on the streets of Wayanad constituency on Thursday.
Huge crowds of people from all seven assembly segments of Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency – Mananthavady, Sulthanbathery, Kalpetta, Thiruvambady, Nilambur, Eranad and Wandoor – had thronged the streets of Kalpetta, the district headquarters, right from morning to have a glimpse of Rahul and his sister and AICC general secretary Priyanka.
Even people from neighbouring constituencies of Malappuram and Kozhikode had arrived in the morning itself to witness the roadshow of Congress. The agrarian Wayanad constituency is spread over Kozhikode, Wayanad and Malappuram districts.
Congress workers, thrilled over the fact that Rahul is contesting from their constituency making it the VIP seat, shouted slogans against the NDA government and prime minister Narendra Modi but there was not even a mention of the main rival to Congress in Wayanad -- the LDF.
The crowd shouted Chowkidar Chor Hai and One Country, One people, one enemy – Narendra Modi even as Priyanka and Rahul's vehicle moved past them with the duo waving to the crowd non-stop.
The roads from Pinangode junction to Kainatti were filled with people right from 8am onwards. Youth Congress, KSU and MSF activists were seen along the road while the 'White Guards' of IUML cleared the way for vehicles of the leaders to pass.
Kozhikode DCC president T Siddique, who was the first official candidate of Congress from Wayanad and later withdrew for Rahul, was among the first to arrive. The crowd at Kalpetta civil station greeted him with slogans. Around 8.30am, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, AICC general secretaries Oommen Chandy, KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik (in-charge of Kerala) arrived in a helicopter.
The crowd in thousands waved at the red and white chopper thinking that it would be Rahul.
Around 10.45am, the helicopter carrying Rahul and Priyanka took off from Kozhikode and the chopper was spotted in Kalpetta within 10 minutes. The slogans were louder when it was about to land at the SKMJ school ground here.
When the Gandhis, accompanied by senior Congress and other UDF leaders, entered the open van, Chandy was seen telling Priyanka to come to the centre, along with Rahul. But she preferred to stand at the corner, on the left of her brother, and letting other leaders to take the slots in the front.
She was all in smiles throughout the road show.
Later she tweeted: “My brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he won't let you down.”
Rahul arrived in the open vehicle at the civil station and submitted his nomination papers before district collector A R Ajayakumar and returned to the main road in the same vehicle through another gate and proceeded for the next leg of the roadshow.
By the time Rahul left the civil station, Dinesh Sharma, a regular presence at Rahul's public gatherings, wearing saffron and waving tricolour with Hand emblem, boarded the vehicle.
Flags of almost all the UDF allies were seen on the road.
'Can we shift to Wayanad'
One elderly voter from Malappuram district was heard saying that Rahul would get 10 lakh votes this time. "This is a candidate we could not even dream of. If we couldn't vote this time, why are we still alive," he said. Some voters from other districts were seen asking "if there was any chance to shift their vote to Wayanad”.
When Rahul's rally moved out to circle Kalpetta town, people, including women and children, were seen cheering and waving tricolour and green flags from the rooftops and government buildings.
Some vendors were seen selling 'Rahul T-shirts and caps'. The crowd continued cheering till the Congress chief's vehicle entered the school ground. Around 1.30pm, Rahul left for Nagpur in the same chopper, leaving the voters to decide whether they want a Gandhi family member as their representative in the Lok Sabha.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala has fielded CPI's P P Suneer in Wayanad to take on Rahul.
Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) leader Thushar Vellappally will be the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from Wayanad.
Considering the response Rahul received on Thursday, the Wayanad battle seems to have already gone the Congress way.
Kerala is a state where the Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, came out with a stunning performance in the elections immediately after the Emergency was lifted, when the party was almost decimated in all other states.
Rahul is not the first Gandhi family member to contest from a South Indian state. Indira Gandhi had won from Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka in a bypoll in 1978. (She defeated Janata Party candidate Veerendra Patil). Her daughter-in-law and then Congress chief and Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi was elected from Bellary, another LS seat in Karnataka, in the 1999 general elections. Sonia, who had defeated Sushma Swaraj of BJP, then vacated the seat as she had won from Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh too.
