New Delhi: The Congress hopes to register significant gains in the southern states as the party prepares to host a mega show on April 3 when Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat for a second time. Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is expected to accompany him.
“We are all very excited. There will be a mega road show and a rally on Wednesday when Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination from Wayanad,” AICC secretary in charge of Kerala P Vishwanathan told ETV Bharat. According to the AICC functionary, the Congress, which had won 19/20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala in 2019, will win all the seats this time. All the 20 seats in Kerala will go to polls on April 26.
Rahul recontesting from Wayanad will further send a message across the other southern states and contribute to the party’s tally in the Lok Sabha, he said.
“It is our target to win all the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala this time. Over the past years, I have seen Rahul Gandhi’s role in developing Wayanad and in other areas of the state. He responded immediately when the voters needed him and the people are definitely going to support our leader. Though it is election time, people from across the state will attend the rally tomorrow,” said Vishwanathan.
“The party will do better in the other southern states as well as a result of Rahul Gandhi contesting from Kerala,” he said. According to the AICC functionary, the fact that the Congress-led UDF fights the CPI-M-led LDF in Kerala but the grand old party and the Left parties are allies at the national level will not be a concern among the people.
“See, the Kerala voters are aware. They have seen the LDF vs UDF contests for decades. During our Lok Sabha poll campaign, we will expose the shortcomings of both the Modi government at the Centre and the Vijayan government in the state,” said Vishwanathan. Besides Kerala, the Congress managers are also looking at gains in neighbouring Telangana and Karnataka, where the party is in power, and in Tamil Nadu, where the party is part of the ruling coalition.
“We are hopeful of winning around 15 out of 17 seats in Telangana. The BRS which ruled the state for 10 years is weakened and most of its leaders have joined us over the past few months. The BJP has four MPs but the saffron party will not make much gains this time,” AICC secretary in charge of Telangana Rohit Chaudhary told ETV Bharat.
“We have deployed senior leaders and ministers in charge of each of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies to have a sharp focus on election management,” he said. In Karnataka, the party managers are banking on the strong organisational and election management skills of state unit chief and deputy chief minister DK Shiv Kumar who has assured the high command to win at least 20 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
“The Siddaramaiah government has implemented all the major poll promises related to social welfare. The people are happy about the move. Further, we have put up very good candidates," he added. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress-DMK alliance hopes to win all 39 Lok Sabha seats against 38 seats in 2019, said party insiders.
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