On the campaign trail of Priyanka Gandhi's Wayanad bypoll

Thiruvambady(Kozhikode): It was almost one and a half hours behind the schedule when Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached her first campaign meeting point of the day at Kodenchery on the suburbs of Kozhikode.

But the long wait under the scorching sun didn't dampen the spirit of hundreds of men and women when the Gandhi-Nehru scion reached the spot. As Priyanka, clad in a light green sari, stretched out of her moving vehicle through the sunroof to greet the waiting crowd, people, including children, stretched their hands towards her with affection and emotion calling Priyanka.

"Both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi are like siblings to us. But Priyanka holds a more special place in our hearts as we could see Indira Gandhi in her," says Kodenchery native Mercy, who has been waiting since 9.30 am to get a glimpse of Priyanka.

"This time Priyanka will sweep the entire women's vote," adds another local native Vincent.

It is indeed Priyanka's legacy and charisma that is pulling crowds towards her election campaign rather than her politics. Even the Congress leaders are highlighting her legacy at the campaign meetings.

Even as the victory of her is quite certain, unlike her predecessor Rahul, the high profile Congress candidate is extensively campaigning across Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency which spreads over Malappuram and Kozhikode districts also.

The Congress seems to be on a mission to secure a historic margin of five lakh for Priyanka in the bypoll, not just to make her electoral debut remarkable, but also to overcome the embarrassment caused by a fall in Rahul Gandhi's victory margin from 4.31 lakh in 2019 to 3.64 lakh in 2024.

At her campaigns too, Priyanka is touching chords with emotions than politics and she also makes it a point to conclude all campaigns by emphasising that she would firmly remain with the people of Wayanad and will not let them down - a message to overcome the resentment among the people over Rahul abruptly quitting the Wayanad to retain Raebareli in UP.

In most venues, which are mostly packed with women, she tells the story of meeting her son at boarding school frequently and states that Wayanad is like her family and she will be here too frequently.

While highlighting Wayanad's long pending burning issues like lack of medical infrastructure, man-animal conflicts and night traffic ban along Bandipur, Priyanka also tries to ensure that the blame did not fall on her brother too as he was Wayanad MP for the last five years. Priyanka claims that Rahul had been frequently pressing the state and Centre to address these issues.

After her speech at Pannikode, where people gathered to see her braving rains, two of her supporters could be heard saying, her speeches are more of emotions than politics.

In the Muslim dominated Wayanad constituency, Priyanka accuses the BJP government at the Centre for attacking minorities and alleges that the BJP was trying to subvert the Constitution and trying to create communal divide.

Despite Thiruvambady assembly segment, where Priyanka campaigned on Tuesday, being a sitting seat of CPI(M) since 2016, all her campaign venues were packed with people and higher women's presence continued to be a highlight.