Wayanad: UDF expects a cakewalk for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

The United Democratic Front (UDF) is so sanguine about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s victory in the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election that it is concentrating its efforts in the two assembly constituencies of Palakkad and Chelikkara instead, where too polling is scheduled on 13 November 2024, along with Wayanad.

“The only point of interest is whether she polls more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi did earlier this year, when the vote share of the Congress slipped by over 5 per cent,” claim Congress workers in the constituency. They believe she will poll more votes and dismiss fears of low polling or any upset.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, they point out, is no stranger to Wayanad. She campaigned extensively in the constituency in both the 2019 and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and is now the UDF candidate for the Lok Sabha seat vacated by Rahul Gandhi.

She has visited the constituency a number of times in the past and was there soon after the devastating landslides on 30 July this year, when 400 people lost their lives.

If anything, voters in Wayanad are even more enthusiastic about her candidature and believe that she would be able to devote more time to the constituency than Rahul Gandhi, who is saddled with many more responsibilities than just representing his constituency.

Many of them endorse the sentiment expressed by K.C. Venugopal when he said, “The Gandhis have an appeal of their own and Priyanka more so. She is charismatic like her grandmother, Indira Gandhi.”

With the assembly election in Kerala due in 2026, the UDF also hopes that Gandhi Vadra will not only be a better representative of Wayanad and Kerala in the Lok Sabha, but will also play a key role in the assembly election for the UDF as a campaigner.

She is already a star campaigner for the Congress and has had the experience of nursing her mother’s constituency of Amethi/Rae Bareli for over two decades.

Congress leaders in Wayanad approvingly recall her statement at one of the rallies in Rae Bareli earlier this year when she said, “I am not going from here without winning both the seats.”

That is the kind of stuff she is made of, they point out.

The Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government had stormed back to power for the second consecutive time in the last elections, a rarity in the state’s electoral history with the two fronts typically alternating in power.

“Priyanka’s presence can make a difference in 2026. She can play a significant role in Congress regaining power,” feels political analyst Ajith Lawrence, who points out that she has helped the party make impressive gains across the country.

Her presence in Parliament will be of significance for the Congress in more ways than one. As and when she occupies a seat in the Lok Sabha, where Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition, the family could rewrite history. Their mother is occupying a seat in the Rajya Sabha.

With Karnataka and Telangana won by the Congress, the party would obviously like to win in Kerala too.

That’s another reason why people in both Wayanad in particular and Kerala overall are looking forward to the emergence of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as a force to reckon with. Her presence in Parliament will give rise to a new Congress, they feel.

The UDF’s optimism is due, in part, to the fact that Wayanad has been one of its bastions for a long time. The seven assembly segments in Wayanad — Kalpetta, Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, Thiruvambady, Eranad, Nilambur and Wandoor — have long been strongholds of the Congress-led UDF. The majority of these assembly segments backed the Congress in recent elections, and the party hopes the by-polls will reaffirm its dominance.

Malayalees across Kerala expect Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to win by a bigger margin than the 3.64 lakh votes which Rahul Gandhi had in June.

K.C. Venugopal’s statement that “the people of Wayanad have decided to make it a cakewalk for Priyanka Gandhi and she should be able to win with a margin of over 5 lakh votes” is likely no empty boast.