IN WAYANAD, QUESTIONS & ANSWERS EMERGE ON RAHUL'S ABSENCE

RAHUL Gandhi has a tummy ache. After Amethi 2019, there is no way he wants a headache in Wayanad, the constituency he represents in the Lok Sabha, where even his fanboys admit he is not visible often enough.

-  RAVI SHANKAR

In this green undulating expanse of coffee plantations and tea estates scalloping the mountainsides and the homes of wealthy landowners looking down upon verdant valleys, the population is predominantly Muslim and Christian. Rahul has sent sister Priyanka to campaign in his place, the day before the loudspeakers fall silent and the drums are put away.

Kambalakkadu, a small marketplace with an even smaller public maidan is where Priyanka Gandhi will make her first stump speech on the last leg of her poll tour, a half hour or so helicopter hop from Karnataka. The vast majority of the crowd that has gathered to see and hear Priyanka comprises women, mostly with hijab or burqa to protect them either from sun or the BJP's glare. They crowd shop verandahs, a shaded long gallery of a street side building upon which Congress tricolor flags and buntings flutter in the wind.

The lady is late, though. The sun is hot. The campaign platform is a purplish mobile van with an awning under which stands a tall lectern. In the background is dynasty art: brother and sister joyfully beaming at people.

"Is he going to win?" "With a larger majority, than before," says a young man.

"He will lose," declares BJP's formidable state president K Surendran who is contesting against Rahul. "How did his majority happen? It's not the Congress vote bank that is responsible for his victory last time. This is a Muslim League stronghold. Congress minus the League is a big zero."

The third candidate is Annie Raja, wife of the DECODE veteran communist D Raja. Many people in Wayanad are perplexed why she should be put up by the LDF against two formidable opponents. "She is a gentle person, and it will be humiliating when she loses," observes a passerby, who had paused to watch.