Will he, won’t he: No decision yet on Rahul

Thiruvananthapuram: With no confirmation yet from the Congress high command on fielding Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad, there is confusion among the party’s rank and file in Kerala. The jubilation with which the news of the Congress president possibly contesting from a seat in Kerala was greeted with on Saturday has been replaced with sullen silence, especially after senior Delhi-based party leader P C Chacko cast doubts on Rahul entering the fray in Wayanad. “The AICC and Rahul Gandhi have not taken any such decision. It is natural that from every state there will be a demand for Rahul Gandhi to contest. Hence, this should be seen as one such demand,’’ Chacko told Malayalam television channels on Sunday.
Chacko, who was denied a seat this time from Kerala as both ‘I’ and ‘A’ factions – led respectively by Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy – were vehemently opposed to it, also blamed the party’s state leaders for spreading false reports.

However, senior Congress leaders in the state continued to say that it was only a matter of formal announcement. “The central election committee has to declare the candidature of the AICC president and the state leadership cannot do it. There is no need for any confusion, Rahul is going to contest from Wayanad,’’ AICC general secretary and former chief minister Chandy said on Sunday. The fact that Wayanad has not figured in the ninth list of candidates announced by AICC on Sunday has also given them hope. The Karnataka PCC had kept Bidar constituency vacant for Rahul, and similarly Tamil Nadu PCC had earmarked Sivaganga constituency for him, but with AICC announcing candidates for both seats, the Wayanad option seems open.

The election screening committee of the AICC is meeting on Monday in New Delhi and is expected to take a final call on the matter. “If Rahul contests from Kerala, all 20 seats will go to UDF. That will be the kind of impact it will create in this election,’’ Chennithala reiterated on Sunday. P 2