Posters targeting Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appeared on the walls of the party office and nearby areas in Kerala's Wayanad this week. The posters surfaced after speculations over who would emerge as the next Chief Minister of Kerala. The posters were seen on May 13, warning Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi against picking KC Venugopal for the state's top post.
"Mr Rahul, KC might be your bagbearer, but people of Kerala never forgive you" (sic), read one of the posters in English.
While another poster cautioned that Wayanad would become "the next Amethi" if such a decision were taken, indicating the Gandhi family bastion in Uttar Pradesh that voted out Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Mr Rahul and Priyanka forget Wayanad. You won't win again from here," another poster read.
Probe Initiated
Congress MLA T Siddique from Wayanad filed a complaint, following which the police launched an investigation. Police claimed that they have retrieved CCTV footage in which a person was seen pasting the posters on the walls. According to officials, efforts are underway to identify him.
A decision on the next Kerala chief minister had been pending since May 4, when the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) returned to power after a decade, bagging 102 out of the 140 seats in the Kerala assembly polls held last month.
The suspense ended on May 14, when the Congress named VD Satheesan, who served as the leader of the opposition for the last five years, as the next chief minister of Kerala. Prior to Satheesan, Pinarayi Vijayan was the long-serving Chief Minister, whose tenure frequently made headlines and generated fierce political discussion.
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The three main contenders for the post of chief minister were Satheesan, KC Venugopal, and Ramesh Chennithala.