The decision of the Congress central leadership to field Priyanka Gandhi from Wayanad constituency following Rahul Gandhi’s resignation from the seat appears to be a well-thought-out strategy.

The Congress leadership thinks that Rahul’s presence in the Hindi belt is necessary in order to strengthen the grand old party in the north. They also feel that the presence of Priyanka is necessary in Kerala, where the BJP in the recently held Lok Sabha polls demonstrated that the party can penetrate the strongholds of both the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI-M-led LDF.

The spectacular performance of BJP in many constituencies in the state has given a clear indication that Kerala’s bipolar political landscape is giving way to a tripolar scenario.

The Congress leadership in the state hopes that Priyanaka’s candidature in Wayanad will boost the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) prospects in the 2026 Assembly elections.

The UDF leadership has hailed the Congress’ decision to field Priyanka from Wayanad constituency vacated by Rahul. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature from Wayanad at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan has expressed confidence that Priyanka Gandhi would win with a historic majority. “Rahul and the party have assigned dearest Priyanka for Wayanad. Welcome to Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi. With a historic majority, Priyanka will become Kerala’s dearest,” Satheesan said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

The CPI on Tuesday said that it will field a candidate against Priyanka Gandhi in Wayanad Lok Sabha by-poll.

The CPI holds Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and its candidate would contest in the by-election, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

The CPI and the LDF will not do anything that is favourable to the BJP. So, we will certainly field our candidate there,” he added.

The BJP Kerala unit on Tuesday mocked the Congress’ decision to field Priyanka from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.

BJP state president K Surendran in a post on X said: “Mr @RahulGandhi claimed that Wayanad is his family. Now he has decided the candidature of his own sister @priyankagandhi to the upcoming by-election in Wayanad. Hope that Mr Rahul will field his brother-in-law @irobertvadra in the Palakkad by-election.”

“Now the people clearly understand ‘Rahul’s family sentiments’. It’s once again proven beyond doubt that the Congress is the only tool for the so-called Nehru-Gandhi family to serve their family’s interest. Pathetic,” Surendran further said in the post.

BJP leader and former Union Minister V Muralidharan alleged that Rahul Gandhi had cheated the people of Wayanad by covering up his plans to contest from Rae Bareli until the polls were over in the state.

“I request the people of Wayanad to give a reply to this attitude of the Congress party using their democratic power in the upcoming by-poll,” Muralidharan said.