Rahul is trying to play a communal game: Wayanad opponent
April 16, 2019  12:15
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Even in tiny Kalpetta, the district headquarters of Wayanad that sits at the tri junction of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, it is not easy to find the guest house Thushar Vellapally is camping at.


Vellapally, a businessman and president of the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala -- was brought in from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat to contest against Rahul Gandhi by BJP President Amit Anilchandra Shah, whom Thushar refers to as Amitbhai.


The guest house is a bungalow in the midst of an abundantly green garden; the car that will take him campaigning for the day is ready in the driveway.


In the sitting room, the sofas are occupied by family and friends -- one among them is Thushar's wife Asha.


A soft spoken and pleasant lady dressed in a kurta and parallel pants, she comes out to say hello -- today is the first day she will go out campaigning with women to muster support for her husband.


The BDJS is a political party associated with the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalanayogam, SNDP, an organisation for the prominent Hindu Ezhava community in Kerala.


The party was formed in 2016 and contested 37 seats in the assembly election.


The BJP-BDJS alliance won one seat (BJP veteran and former Union minister O Rajagopal was elected an MLA from Thiruvanathapuram) and accounted for nearly 15% of the vote share.


This is Tushar Vellapally's first Lok Sabha election and he has launched an aggressive campaign to take on Rahul Gandhi.


Wayanad is dotted with posters of all three major contestants, and Vellapally had undertaken a road show through Sulthan Bathery -- another town in Wayanad -- the previous evening.


Just before setting out for the day's campaign, the candidate spoke to Rediff.com's Archana Masih under a shady tree, ahead of a very hot day in Wayanad.

Read the engaging interview here. 
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