Congress, IUML flags back in Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad roadshow

The party flags of the Congress and its ally Indian Union Muslim League that could not be spotted anywhere during Rahul Gandhi's roadshow in Wayanad in April, appeared during his roadshow at Edavanna in Malappuram on Wednesday.

On April 3, Gandhi's roadshow, on the way to filing his nomination in Wayanad was visibly different from that of 2019 in the hill constituency when the green flags of ally IUML outnumbered the Congress's in the crowd. There were no flags of any party or affiliated organisations.

On Wednesday, as Gandhi conducted an impromptu roadshow at Edavanna, green flags of the IUML as well as the flags of the Congress and its student wing Kerala Students Union were seen in large numbers as thousands of UDF workers and supporters as well as the general public turned up to welcome him.

It was his first appearance in the state after winning the Wayanad LS seat by a huge margin for the second consecutive time.

At the height of the election campaign in 2019, senior BJP leader Amit Shah had criticised Gandhi for contesting from the constituency in Kerala, and remarked that during a procession in the area, it was difficult to discern whether it was India or Pakistan, alluding to the presence of IUML's green flags during the Congress leader's roadshow, a Congress source had said in April this year.

The source also said that the Congress might have chosen not to display flags during the event this time, out of concern for such potential negative reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The BJP and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala had used the absence of the flags as an opportunity to take political potshots at the Congress.

While the CPI-M alleged that the flags were not used as the Congress was scared of the BJP, the saffron party claimed it was because Gandhi was ashamed of the IUML and asked him to reject its support.

Hitting back at them, the Congress had said that the CPI-M and the BJP have become close friends and asserted that it does not need any classes from anyone on how to carry out a poll campaign.