Wayanad: In Wayanad's 3-way electoral contest, BJP's Navya Haridas is banking on her political experience to take on Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the November 13 bypoll, which also will be the AICC general secretary's maiden electoral fight.
A software engineer with international experience in Singapore and the Netherlands, and a decade as a councillor in Kozhikode, Haridas is confident her background equips her to challenge Vadra, who is keen to extend the Congress' winning streak in this hilly Lok Sabha segment vacated by her brother Rahul Gandhi.
Haridas told PTI in interview on Tuesday that although Vadra holds a position in the AICC, she lacks experience as a people's representative.
"Priyanka Gandhi is a national figure due to her Nehru family background, but this is her first election. I, on the other hand, have served as a councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation for two consecutive terms and contested the 2021 Assembly elections." "I have been representing the people for many years, so contesting against Priyanka Gandhi doesn't feel any different to me. I believe I have more experience than she does," the BJP candidate said, a day ahead of the Congress leader's entry into Wayanad, where she is seeking votes with a roadshow in Kalpetta.
The by-election for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency was necessitated after Rahul Gandhi vacated it following his victory in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Eminent CPI leader and former MLA, Sathyan Mokeri, is contesting on the CPIM-led ruling LDF ticket.
"The fight is only between Congress and BJP. See, this election was necessitated due to the irresponsibility of Congress. In many parts of Wayanad, you still see flex boards asking for votes for Rahul Gandhi. However, he chose to keep the Rae Bareli seat and handed Wayanad over to his sister. This is an example of family dominance, and the BJP will highlight this issue before the voters," Haridas said.
Navya, who is also the state general secretary of the Mahila Morcha, BJP's women's wing, believes PM Narendra Modi's development agenda will work in favour of the party in Wayanad.
"BJP always puts forward the agenda of development. There has been no intervention from the people's representatives in the issues demanded by the people here for the past several years." She said Wayanad is not a constituency where the BJP has a strong organisational foothold but pointed out at its electoral gains.
"However, the party's vote share doubled compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Moreover, we saw that people voted for the BJP in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, and it showed that people want the BJP in power. We expect that kind of change will happen here also," she said.
In the 2024 elections, the BJP saw its vote share in Wayanad rise to 5.75 per cent, when its state president K Surendran took on Rahul Gandhi. The NDA candidate secured 1,41,045 votes, a significant increase from the 78,816 votes in 2019 when the seat was contested by BDJS, an NDA ally.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi's victory margin decreased to 3,64,422, down from the 4,31,770 votes polled in 2019. Haridas, an engineering graduate, entered politics almost by accident. After earning her B.Tech degree, she worked as a software professional. In 2009, she married marine engineer Shobin Shyam and moved to Singapore, where she worked for four years.
She also worked in the Netherlands and Azerbaijan. Then, during a vacation trip to Kozhikode in 2015, she was unexpectedly nominated as a candidate in Kerala's local body elections, thanks to her family's RSS connect.
"Politics was never on my mind, and my entry into it was purely accidental. The BJP approached me with a ticket, considering my family's political background. I was fielded from Karaparamba, a ward where the BJP traditionally finishes third in Kozhikode Corporation. However, I won and have been representing the ward for the past 10 years," she explained.
Reflecting on her campaign for Wayanad, Haridas mentioned the challenges of travelling through the region. "It takes hours to reach Kalpetta, especially crossing the Thamarassery Ghat Road, where traffic jams last for several hours. The traffic problems and the backwardness in the health sector here must be addressed immediately. Wayanad still lacks a fully equipped medical college. Currently, a district hospital has been upgraded as a medical college," she said.
"Another pressing issue is the upliftment of the tribal communities. The tribal people are still suffering. The funds allocated for them by the Central Government are not reaching their hands due to the lapses of the people's representatives. Besides, there are no plans for the educational facilities for the tribal students," she added.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven Assembly segments-- Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST) and Kalpetta in Wayanad district, Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district. Of these Wandoor, Kalpetta abd Sulthan Bathery are represented by the Congress The Eranad seat is held by P K Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the Congress-led UDF.
Independent Nilambur MLA P V Anwar, who recently parted ways with the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, has already expressed support for Vadra. Thiruvambady and Mananthavady have CPI(M) MLAs. The constituency has a significant population of minorities and tribal communities.
