Wayanad, Oct 24 (IANS): Navya Haridas, the BJP candidate from Wayanad in Kerala, on Thursday expressed confidence of winning the seat, stating that people of the constituency have realised that she can address their problems more efficiently than the Congress.

Navya Haridas (39), a BTech degree-holder and two-time councillor in Kozhikode Corporation and BJP parliamentary party leader in the corporation, also serves as the Kerala General Secretary of the party’s Mahila Morcha.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, Haridas talked about Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi, LoP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, lack of development in Wayanad because of the Congress' "failure" to address the problems of the constituency. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

IANS: How was your election campaign, and what is the significance of this election for you?

Haridas: We started our campaign four days ago, and today, we filed the nomination. Kerala BJP and national leaders were present during the nomination filing. We (BJP) are very confident of winning the election as we are getting favourable remarks from the people of this constituency. The people of Wayanad need a change now.

I am fighting to win this very important election. The BJP is also giving much attention to this poll.

I am competing in the Lok Sabha for the first time. Before that, I competed in the corporation election and the Legislative Assembly elections. I am so fortunate that I got such an opportunity.

IANS: What is your plan for the election campaign now that you have filed your nomination?

Haridas: We are 100 per cent confident because of the positive response that we are getting from the public.

When I went outside, the people were saying that they could come and raise their concerns in their native language. That's a problem as Rahul Gandhi was not able to do so. There was no direct access for the people to connect with the MP. There was a communication gap between the local media and the MP. The language problem was a barrier.

The people really want to raise their issues with a person who is a local, who can understand their problems, who they can access easily. I will be such a person for the people of Wayanad, and I understand the people, and they have realised that.

IANS: How do you see the Congress' decision to field Priyanka Gandhi as a candidate from the Wayanad Assembly constituency?

Haridas: Priyanka Gandhi filed her nomination yesterday, accompanied by her family -- her mother, brother, husband, and son. This clearly shows family domination.

The Nehru family is trying to get a dominant seat in Wayanad, but the people here are not ready to accept this.

IANS: Do you think Priyanka Gandhi has revealed every information in her affidavit? How do you see the numerous allegations made against her husband, Robert Vadra?

Haridas: There are so many allegations against Robert Vadra. I don't believe everything has been disclosed in Priyanka Gandhi's nomination form. I haven't seen the affidavit that she has filed, however, I will look into it and verify it.

IANS: Do you think that Priyanka Gandhi will benefit from Wayanad being a stronghold of the Congress?

Haridas: Wayanad has always leaned towards the Congress. No matter who the candidate is, they vote for that symbol. This is why Rahul Gandhi had come to Wayanad, believing that he was not going to get any seats in North India; he opted for South India, a definite and sure shot for the Congress.

Last time, he lost Raebareli to BJP leader Smriti Irani and was only able to retain the Wayanad Assembly seat.

This time too, he competed from North India and South India. He wanted to retain the seat in the north, so he chose Raebareli, leaving the people of Wayanad behind.

IANS: The Congress is in an alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Do you think this can affect your chances of winning?

Haridas: Not only IUML but there are so many parties in the INDIA Bloc. Even the CPI was a co-group of their alliance; there was no need for two different candidates.

This alliance won't work. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, we saw internal fights and splits wherever this alliance was in the picture. So it's not going to work out.

IANS: Since you have visited the Wayanad landslide sites, do you think what Rahul Gandhi has claimed about helping the distressed people is true?

Haridas: He was absent during the floods. He only visited Wayanad four days after the disaster. The people of Wayanad felt abandoned without a proper representative. There were warnings from the disaster management team to evacuate landslide-prone areas, which were ignored because there was no action by any representatives. Rahul Gandhi, as the MP for the last five years, never raised these issues in Parliament in favour of the people of Wayanad.

IANS: You seem confident of winning the elections. What do you think plays an important role in campaigning?

Haridas: The Congress is trying to move forward with caste-based politics, religion-based politics, and divide-and-rule policy. But the BJP is moving forward with the politics of development. Wayanad requires significant development in health, education, agriculture, and infrastructure. Compared to other states and districts, Wayanad is lagging behind. There's a clear communication gap between the representatives and the people, and their real needs have never been addressed in Parliament. So, in order to get any development in Wayanad, there should be a change; there should be the BJP.

IANS: You are a software engineer; what made you choose politics?

Haridas: I think education is a very important factor in politics also because we must learn the things before implementing them. Just coming into politics without knowing anything doesn't make any sense. Being an engineer, I know how to work out things. This is how I have won the elections in my corporation as a councillor. As an engineer, I can understand the problems of the people, being among the public for the past many years. Being an engineer, I can also understand the infrastructure side. So it really helps.

IANS: What are the problems Wayanad has been facing? What are the things that Rahul Gandhi was not able to do in the last five years?

Haridas: There are so many problems in Wayanad. We could say that for the last five years, Rahul Gandhi has done nothing for the people or for the development of Wayanad. We have been asking for decades that Wayanad really needs a super-speciality medical college. If you check Google, you can find a hospital called Medical College, but it is a district hospital that has been re-labelled as a medical college. There's no facility there. You can go and check the pathetic condition of the medical college. During the time of the last landslide also, the people suffered a lot because there were no amenities. They had to carry the injured people to Kozhikode Medical College, which was very difficult.

The Central government is putting forward so many schemes for agriculture and farmers. But it's not being implemented because there's a communication difference. To get the rewards from the Centre, there should be someone who connects them to those schemes. But the representatives are not by the side of the farmers.

We could see that landslide-prone areas are banned from construction, but the representatives themselves were taking the initiative to construct unauthorised buildings in such areas without any rules and regulations. This leads to other disasters also. So, these are not natural disasters occurring now. These are all man-made disasters.

IANS: There is a persistent problem of wild elephants here. What steps can you take to solve this?

Haridas: Yes, there is this problem. So many people are losing their lives due to animal attacks. Animals should be protected, and so should human life. To create that barrier between society and wildlife, the representatives did not take any initiative.