'Smriti Irani pressure' sustains on Rahul Gandhi as BJP makes it clear that unlike 2019, Wayanad will not be a a cakewalk for Congress star

Smriti Irani now chases Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad

Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi's Amethi nemesis, will be in Wayanad on Thursday as the BJP state president files his nomination papers to take on the Gandhi family scion for the Lok Sabha 2024 polls. The BJP and Smriti Irani have kept the 'pressure' on Rahul Gandhi over Kerala's Wayanad, and don't want it to give a 'cakewalk' for him.

"Kaun kehta hai aasman mein suraakh ho nahi sakta...(Who says there can't be a hole in the sky...)," said Smriti Irani while proclaiming her victory in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

It was a big victory as the BJP leader had defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion. Amethi was a pocket borough for the Congress party's first dynasty for years. 

Rahul Gandhi continued to be an MP in the Lok Sabha despite being humbled at Amethi as he won Wayanad, a 'safe seat' because of the demography of the constituency in Kerala. 

 

Guess who??? Priyanka during 2009 campaign 

He won by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. The Gandhi family scion is contesting again this year from Wayanad but the Congress is yet to take a final call on Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh -- now a BJP stronghold.  

In October 2023, we have debated in this blog on the possibility of Rahul Gandhi moving out of Wayanad.

Here is the link: 

Blog Link: Will Rahul Gandhi dump Wayanad in favour of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu ?

Essentially, what needs to be understood is that in 2023, the Congress started giving much indulgence to the DMK leaders.  

In 2023 a more emphatic question that cropped up was why Congress started accommodating such anti-Hindutva (anti-Sanatan Dharm) remarks from DMK leaders. The grand old party has not disapproved or never reprimanded M K Stalin and his party for such remarks. While there have been attempts for 'denial' or dissociation from such statements, Priyank Kharge almost echoed the voice of Stalin's son.  

In terms of religionwise population breakup, Wayanad district has 49.48 percent Hindus and a substantial number of them could be strictly anti-BJP and pro-communists. In 2019 polls they must have voted in favour of Rahul. After Hindus, Muslims form about 28.65 percent of population in Wayanad and they are followed by 21.34 percent Christians. 

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