13 days after being elected as an MP, Rahul Gandhi has decided to leave Wayanad seat of Kerala. After the Congress High Command meeting at the official residence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday (17 June), the party announced Rahul's decision. Rahul Gandhi is the third member of his family who has not continued his MP seat from a South Indian seat. Before Rahul, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi have left the South Indian seat after winning it.
In 1980, Indira Gandhi gave preference to Raebareli and Medak instead of Chikmagalur in Karnataka, while after winning from Bellary in 1999, Sonia Gandhi turned to Amethi. Rahul Gandhi's decision is slightly different from Indira-Sonia's. While leaving Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi has announced to hand over this seat to his sister Priyanka Gandhi. Priyanka Gandhi will contest elections from here for the first time after entering politics.
Congress may be calling Priyanka's contesting from Wayanad a family matter, but there are 3 such figures which hide the secret of Priyanka contesting from here. Let us understand these 3 figures in detail in this story...
1. Indira leaving Chikmagalur cost Congress heavily
In the 1977 elections held after the Emergency, Indira Gandhi lost badly from the Rae Bareilly Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. After Indira lost the election, many speculations began to be made about her political career.
Meanwhile, in 1978, the Election Commission announced a by-election for the Chikmagalur seat in Karnataka.
At the behest of local Congress leaders, Indira Gandhi filed her nomination from Chikmagalur seat. Janata Party fielded Virendra Patil against Indira. However, the people of Chikmagalur supported Indira in this election.
Indira defeated Virendra Patil by about 77 thousand votes in this by-election of Chikmagalur. This victory of Indira filled the Congressmen with enthusiasm and the party leaders started becoming active again. Just two years after this incident, the Janata Party government at the center fell.
In the absence of any party forming a government, the Election Commission announced general elections in 1980. There was talk within the Congress that Indira would contest from Chikmagalur again, but Indira filed her nomination from Medak and Raebareli seats instead of Chikmagalur.
After Indira's refusal, Congress made DM Puttegowda the candidate from here. Puttegowda won the election in the Indira wave, but later this decision proved to be detrimental for the Congress.
In the 1983 assembly elections, Indira's leaving Chikmagalur was made a big issue and she was accused of cheating the people of Karnataka. Many arguments were given by the Congress against this narrative, but the party failed to convince the people.
In 1983, for the first time, a non-Congress party government was formed in Karnataka. Ramakrishna Hegde was elected Chief Minister. Congress had to face defeat in 6 out of 8 assembly seats of Chikmagalur Lok Sabha.
2. When Sonia left Bellary, Congress in Karnataka got halved
After entering politics, Sonia Gandhi announced to contest elections in 1999. The opposition made the issue of Sonia being an outsider. Seeing this narrative of the opposition in North India, the Congress decided to field Sonia from Bellary seat in Karnataka.
The responsibility of Sonia Gandhi's nomination was given to Karnataka in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad at that time. Azad kept the nomination process very secret. However, despite this, Sushma Swaraj succeeded in filing her nomination from BJP.
After this, there was a lot of war between Sushma and Sonia in Bellary. The people of Bellary finally expressed their trust in Sonia. Sonia managed to win this election by about 56 thousand votes. Sonia won from Bellary as well as Amethi.
When it came to leaving a seat, Sonia Gandhi preferred Amethi over Bellary. This decision of Sonia Gandhi proved to be detrimental for the Congress party in Karnataka.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress's seats dropped from 18 to 8. The party also suffered a big defeat in Sonia's Bellary. After this, the Congress kept losing continuously in Bellary till 2014.
The factor of Sonia leaving Bellary also dominated the 2004 assembly elections. In this election, Congress lost 67 seats. The party won only 65 seats. In this election, Congress candidates were able to win only one out of 8 seats in Bellary Lok Sabha.
3. Elections in Kerala after 2 years, Congress has high hopes from here
Assembly elections are to be held in Kerala after 2 years. There are 140 assembly seats here. For the last 2 times, the pattern of Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Kerala is the same. In the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress alliance is winning here and in the assembly elections, the CPM alliance is winning.
However, this time the lead of Congress is much higher. According to the Election Commission, in this Lok Sabha election, the Congress alliance has got a lead in 111 assembly seats of Kerala. The CPM alliance has got a lead in 18 seats and the BJP alliance has got a lead in 11 seats.
In Kerala, no Chief Minister has been in power for more than two terms. This trend is also strengthening the hopes of the Congress. In such a situation, the decision of the Gandhi family to leave Wayanad can backfire for the party.
Keeping this in mind, the Gandhi family has decided to field Priyanka from here instead of Rahul. The equation of Wayanad is also considered quite safe for the Congress as compared to Rae Bareli.
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