Annie Raja has questioned the strategic advantage for the Congress or Rahul Gandhi in contesting from Kerala.
With the Lok Sabha elections just a few weeks away, the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday declared Annie Raja as its candidate for the Wayanad seat in Kerala, which is presently held by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Annie Raja, making her electoral debut this year, brings a wealth of experience as a member of the CPI’s national executive. She is also the wife of D Raja, the party”s general secretary and serves as the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women. Her commitment to political activism dates back to her school days.
The Congress had secured the Wayanad seat by a substantial margin of 4.3 lakh votes in 2019. Despite the CPI”s alliance with the Congress within the Opposition INDIA bloc, the Left party has fielded its candidate and urged Rahul Gandhi to seek election from an alternative constituency.
Brinda Karat, a leader of the CPI(M), emphasised the pivotal role played by Annie Raja in the “Mahila Andholan” and suggested that contesting against the CPI(M) in Kerala might dilute the Congress”s focus on countering the BJP.
“Rahul Gandhi and Congress need to think, they say that their fight is against BJP. In Kerala, if you come and fight against CPI(M), what message are you giving? So they need to think about their seat once again,” Karat said.
Stressing that North India is a stronghold for the BJP, Binoy Viswam, a CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP, questioned the rationale behind the Congress”s electoral focus on Kerala, which offers a mere 20 seats. He drew parallels to the 2019 elections when Rahul Gandhi”s move from Amethi to Wayanad was exploited by the BJP to portray him as evasive, resulting in setbacks for the Congress across North India. Viswam urged a reassessment of the Congress”s priorities, emphasizing the need to identify the primary adversary: the RSS-led BJP or the Left.
Discussing her entry into electoral politics and her challenge against a prominent figure within the INDIA bloc in Wayanad, Annie Raja highlighted Kerala”s longstanding electoral dynamics pitting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) against the United Democratic Front (UDF).
“In 2019 also, the CPI had contested the Wayanad seat. In the LDF alliance, the CPI has been given four seats and Wayanad is one of them. The other seats are Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Mavelikkara. The CPI had contested all these seats last time also. In Kerala, it is LDF versus UDF, and there is no INDIA alliance in the state. When INDIA alliance parties had meetings that time itself they had made their stand very clear that Left and secular, democratic parties should come together. Even at that time Kerala was made an exception,” she told Indian Express.
Like her colleagues, Raja questioned the strategic advantage for the Congress or Rahul Gandhi in contesting from Kerala. She suggested alternative safer options for the Congress leadership in states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka stressing that the CPI”s electoral engagements are limited to a handful of seats.
Regarding Rahul Gandhi”s candidacy in Wayanad, Raja hopes that “good sense will prevail”.
“I am not saying that he should not contest from Wayanad. What I am saying is the Congress should make clear, what is its politics? Do they want to see the RSS-BJP defeated or do they want to see the Left cornered and defeated? That is the question. It is not only the responsibility of the CPI. Even in the Telangana Assembly elections, they had promised us two seats. But at the last minute, they said somebody from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) or BJP joined and they took away one of the seats,” she said in the interview.
Addressing queries about personal relationships between D Raja, herself, and Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, Raja underscored that the primary concern is not personal rapport but political alignment.
“The question is not of friendship … the question is of politics. The main threat to this country today is the RSS-BJP fascist forces. They have destroyed the Constitution and its values. They have … virtually divided the people based on their religion. So we need to save this country,” Raja clarified.
