‘Wayanad won’t accept if Rahul Gandhi doesn’t walk his talk’

With less than 48 hours left for Kerala to go for elections all public campaigns and road shows concluded on Wednesday evening as per the model code of conduct Both BJP and Congress conducted a road show and addressed large crowd gatherings in Wayanad On Wednesday K Annamalai Tamil Nadu BJP chief crossed the state border and came in support of BJP candidate K Surendran contesting from Wayanad constituency and could garnish a crowd of over a thousand supporters to participate in the roadshowPriyanka Gandhi Vadra visited three constituencies in Wayanad from where her brother Rahul is contesting the elections Rahul could not attend the last league of the election campaign as he is recuperating from a throat infectionTamil Nadu BJP Chief K Annamali held a roadshow in support of K Surendra of BJPHuge crowd in attendanceSandeep G Varier a BJP party worker and supporter of Surendran said ldquoWe received overwhelming support from the public who turned out in large numbers to cast their support to both Annamalai and K Surendran during the roadshow Over a thousand plus supporters including men women and musical bands wearing saffron holding the BJP candidate and Modirsquos placards shouted slogans in support of BJPrdquoPriyanka in WayanadA massive crowd gathered in support of Congress candidate Rahul Gandhirsquos elder sister Priyanka Samshad Marakkar former youth congress president said ldquoWe received an overwhelming response from the public who gathered in large numbers and Priyankaji could address the crowd from her vehicle itself which was translated in Malayalam by our member Jyothi VijaykumarrdquoLarge public turnout for Anamalai road show in support of BJP candidate K SurendranWhen asked about his reaction to BJPrsquos Annamalai road show in Wayanad on the same day Samshad said ldquoThere are some Tamil communities in the Mananthavady constituency and as Tamil Nadu is a border state to Wayanad surely his presence would lure the Tamil speaking communities residing here in WayanadrdquoJyothi a freelancer started translating for Rahul Gandhi in 2011 and today for Priyanka she has done three translationsWhen asked if todayrsquos speeches were scripted she replied in the negative stating todayrsquos speeches were impromptu and given in English and I translated the same in Malayalam to the crowd The initial two speeches lasted for over 30 minutes including the translation and the third one was shorterrdquoWayanad locals are confident that Rahul Gandhi may win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for the second consecutive time however his margin from last year may come down Locals say that while they can connect to Rahul Gandhi they have never heard of Annie Raja beforeRahul needs to walk his talkAK Prasad a local resident pointed out that they never heard about Annie Raja a CPI candidate They also have a word of caution to Rahul Gandhi who looks upon Wayanad as his easy entry point to Lok Sabha which the people of Wayanad wonrsquot accept if he doesnrsquot walk his talkldquoIt is unfortunate that Rahul Gandhi has not delivered his promises made to Wayanad during the 2019 elections He first stated that he was a prime minister candidate and people turned out in large numbers and voted for him Later he turned out to be a visiting professor to Wayanad who would seldom visit the constituency and address raised concerning issues These issues include the night travel ban from Karnataka This issue affected the economic health of the Wayanad constituency It affects traders and smallscale industries as they are unable to bring materials and muchneeded products hereVotes are unpredictableldquoEveryone joining a particular political party road show or gathering need not convert the crowd into votes this is basic which unfortunately comes to light only once the election results are declaredrdquo said Jose a local resident ldquoMany a time locals are compelled to be with a particular political party as they are obliged to do so but their physical presence for a party event or function doesnrsquot mean that they would cast their vote for that party And there is no way that the party or their cadre can make out who voted or against them in the electionrdquo Jose addedWhen asked about the reference to context Jose said ldquoWe can still connect to Rahul Gandhi as we have been learning and hearing about the Gandhi family since our childhood but Annie Raja was never seen in our constituency And BJP ideology may not be agreeable to the minority communities leaving no scope but to go with Congress However the people of Wayanad cannot be fooled every time they have issues which need to be sorted outrdquo