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FIR registered over anti-Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi posters in Wayanad: ‘Kerala will never forgive’
One of the posters read: “Mr Rahul, KC might be your bag bearer, but people of Kerala will never forgive you.” Another warned: “Wayanad will be next Amethi.”
Police in Kerala’s Wayanad have registered a case after posters targeting Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge surfaced outside the district Congress office and nearby areas, officials said on Sunday.
The case was registered at Kalpetta police station based on a complaint filed by local MLA T Siddique, news agency PTI reported. A case has been filed under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Kerala Police Act.
The FIR stated that the posters appeared on May 13, when the Congress leadership was yet to announce its choice for Kerala chief minister following the party-led alliance’s assembly election victory, a development earlier reported by HT.
What did the posters say?
The posters carried sharp messages aimed at the Congress high command over the possibility of senior leader KC Venugopal being considered for the chief minister’s post.
One of the posters read: “Mr Rahul, KC might be your bag bearer, but people of Kerala will never forgive you.”
Another warned: “Wayanad will be next Amethi.”
A third said: “RG and PG, Kerala will never forgive you for this blunder.”
Police said some of the posters also threatened that Vadra, who currently represents Wayanad in Parliament, would be defeated in the next election if the leadership backed Venugopal. Rahul had represented Wayanad in the Lok Sabha between 2019 and 2024 before Vadra took over the seat.
The posters were pasted outside the Wayanad district Congress committee office and near Vadra’s MP office in Mukkam, Kozhikode.
What is the controversy about?
The controversy broke out amid intense lobbying within the Congress after the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) swept the Kerala assembly elections, winning 102 out of 140 seats. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) was reduced to 35 seats.
In the days after the May 4 election results, Congress workers across Kerala held protests demanding that senior leader VD Satheesan, who served as leader of opposition for the past five years, be made chief minister.
At the time, uncertainty over the leadership choice had fuelled speculation around Venugopal’s possible elevation. The Congress later named Satheesan as Kerala chief minister-designate.
Sources earlier said the All India Congress Committee leadership, including Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, was unhappy with the public protests and asked the Kerala unit to rein in such demonstrations.
CCTV footage under scanner
Police is probing a CCTV footage showing a person pasting the posters on walls. However, the individual’s face is not clearly visible, the PTI report said.
Earlier, HT had reported that CCTV footage retrieved by local Congress workers showed a person pasting the posters around 3 am. Though the individual’s face was not clearly visible in the clip, party workers had launched their own search to identify the person.
