Roots shaky, no place for him in Amethi: BJP on Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad candidature

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi after the latter decided to contest Lok Sabha elections 2019 from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency besides his traditional Amethi seat. Reacting to the Congress chief’s move, BJP president Amit Shah said that Rahul Gandhi “escaped” to Wayanad as there was no place for him in Amethi this time.

"I read on WhatsApp that Rahul Gandhi has run towards Kerala, leaving Amethi behind. Why has he escaped to Kerala? All of you know that this time Rahul Gandhi is done for in Amethi. So he is going to Kerala in a bid to win on the politics of polarisation," Shah said during his rally in Nagina.

Another BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Congress chief’s decision to fight the polls from Wayanad because the constituency has over 50 per cent population of minority communities.

"Rahul Gandhi's roots in Amethi are shaky. Some people go to the temples around election time and he is one among them. We tried doing some homework about why did he suddenly escape to Wayanad? That is when we realised that the population in Wayanad consists of 49.4% Hindus, whereas rest of them belong to the minority group," he said.

Earlier in the day, Congress party announced that Rahul Gandhi, who currently represent Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi constituency in the Lok Sabha, will contest the upcoming polls from Kerala's Wayanad as the second seat.

Explaining the Congress chief's decision, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala cited the "geographical importance" of the constituency and said that the move was taken to fight the "discriminatory" attitude of the BJP towards the southern states.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also criticised Rahul Gandhi’s decision and questioned the Congress party’s resolve to fight against the BJP.

“He (Rahul Gandhi) should have contested from a constituency where BJP is contesting. This is nothing but a fight against the Left," the Kerala CM said adding that people of the state won’t see it as a fight against the BJP.