KPCC wants Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad
KPCC wants Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad
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New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi may contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad constituency if the party's Kerala unit has its way. Congress leaders from Kerala has proposed AICC president Rahul Gandhi's name for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, a party bastion in the State, but he has yet to respond to the request.

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Former Chief Minister and member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Oommen Chandy told reporters in Kollam that the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has requested Mr. Gandhi to contest the 2019 Parliamentary elections from the State. The Congress leadership had, for weeks, been under pressure from leaders in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to field Gandhi from a constituency in southern India, apart from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Kerala Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran, who is also the chief of Congress Election Committee, told that the Congress president has agreed to the demand. Rahul Gandhi's response is expected anytime today. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra units of the Congress have also raised similar demands.

Gandhi's candidature from Wayanad will energize the Congress party in South India and thus the party can win the majority of seats from the region, the leaders said. The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, since its formation in 2008, has overwhelmingly voted for the Congress. In the 2014 elections, M I Shanavas of the Congress had defeated Satyan Mokeri of the CPI by a margin of 20,870 votes. Shanawaz, working president of the KPCC, died last year. In the 2009 elections, he had defeated CPI’s M. Rahmathulla by a margin of 1,53,439 votes. The Congress earlier this month had announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest from his bastion Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.

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