"Rahul Gandhi failed, Wayanad has not at all benefited": Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi in Kerala
Apr 12, 2024
Ernakulam (Kerala) [India], April 12 : Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, alleging that his constituency, Wayanad, has not at all benefited from his leadership.
"Rahul Gandhi has failed, is just one part of the story. The other MPs have also failed by non-participation with the administration, with a lack of connection and availability for the people. Wayanad has not benefited at all from Rahul Gandhi's leadership," the BJP leader said.
"They (Congress) are only playing on people's religious sentiments. They keep calling themselves secular, but they keep doing everything that is non-secular. They try to appease people of certain religions and divide people based on religion," she added.
The BJP has fielded Kerala State President K Surendran as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate against incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi and CPI's Annie Raja.
While the CPI and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, the two parties are fierce contenders in Kerala, with both parties pitting their strongest candidates against each other.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi won from Wayanad with a huge margin of over 4.31 lakh votes; the highest margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala. He secured a 64.94 per cent vote share, defeating LDF candidate PP Suneer. The NDA had fielded BDJ(S) leader Tushar Vellapally who secured just around 78,000 votes which accounted for a mere 7.25 per cent.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 19 out of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the Congress won 15 seats, its allies Indian Union Muslim League won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won one seat in Alappuzha.
Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the South Indian state across all 20 seats is scheduled for April 26, while the counting of votes will take place on June 4.
