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India elections: Why Rahul Gandhi is looking south for support
- The Congress party leader has turned his attention to Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala
- But can victory there really help him in his electoral battle against incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party?
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Amethi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is a Congress party stronghold. In almost every election since the constituency was formed in 1967, it has sent a member of Congress to the country’s parliament.
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Since 2004, over three successive elections, that member has been Rahul Gandhi – the party’s current leader and incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main electoral opponent.
But this year, in addition to Amethi, Gandhi is running in Wayanad – a demographically diverse constituency in the southern state of Kerala. (In India, candidates are allowed to stand for election from two seats.)
The reason for this decision is not immediately obvious. Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in New Delhi, said he does “not think there was any strategy or long-term plan” to the choice – though it may have come about because “there was some uncertainty” about whether Gandhi would win in Amethi this time around.
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The Congress party leader won with a majority of 107,903 votes in 2014 – a wide margin, but fewer than one-third of the 370,748 votes he garnered in 2009.
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