KC Venugopal, the “Venice of the East,” is competing in a match that he must win

It may seem strange that a north Indian Rajya Sabha seat would become a topic of discussion during Kerala’s elections. But this election season, there are rumors circulating in the central Keralan constituency of Alappuzha about the “Rajasthan seat,” thanks to the unexpected announcement of AICC general secretary and Rahul Gandhi’s man Friday, K C Venugopal.

In the state’s political circles, he goes as “KC.” The BJP took over Rajasthan’s assembly seat from the Congress in December of last year, and he will serve as a Rajya Sabha MP until 2026. In the event that KC wins in Alappuzha, he would have to give up his position in the Parliament’s upper chamber. And the BJP, which is just four seats away from a majority in the Rajya Sabha, would benefit from that. its scare tactic has been promoted by the Left Democratic Front, particularly among the minority populations who make up a significant portion of its electorate.

Along with Rahul Gandhi, Annie Raja, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Shashi Tharoor, KC is one of the “national leaders” running this year. And he is undoubtedly closing the five-year “gap” with Alappuzha, which voted him to the state legislature in 1996, 2001, and 2006 as well as the Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014.

It would be beneficial for this former Union minister of state in the UPA II administration that KC was able to preserve the local ties he had built during his prior terms here as an MP and MLA. Ironically, however, the AICC general secretary in charge of organization is now concerned about the Congress’s shoddy organizational structure. Additionally, KC’s rivals this time around are Sobha Surendran of the BJP and A M Ariff, the current CPM MP.