Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s 2-km long roadshow with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra before filing his nomination for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat has put the grand old party in a spot. In stark contrast to the visuals from 2019, the roadshow by Rahul — who is seeking a second term as an MP from the Kerala constituency — was conspicuous by the absence of party flags — of the Congress as well as its ally, the IUML.

The 2019 rally, marked by a sea of the IUML’s green and crescent flags, had drawn criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party which sought to incorrectly portray it as Pakistan’s national flag. The narrative built around the green and crescent streamers sought to question the Congress’ nationalist credentials. “When a procession is taken out, you cannot make out whether it is in India or Pakistan,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah had then said.

Wary of a similar fallout ahead of the coming polls, the Congress-led UDF replaced all party flags — of the Congress as well as the IUML — with placards featuring Rahul Gandhi. However, the decision neither went unnoticed nor unpunished.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was the first to question the absence of Congress and IUML flags at the rally in Wayanad on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference in Kochi on Thursday, Vijayan said that the Congress was so afraid of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar that it holds its own flag.

“On Wednesday, the top leader of the Congress submitted his nomination in Wayanad. Naturally, a section of his supporters accompanied him. The most important thing that we noticed was that the flag of their own party couldn’t be seen anywhere. There is a doubt as to why Congress is becoming a party which is not hesitant to hide even its own flag,” he said.

“It was a demand of the Sangh Parivar that the Tricolour be abandoned. The Congress is yielding to that demand,” Vijayan said, adding that Kerala should vote for MPs with strong political convictions, “who do not hide their party flags due to fear of the BJP”.

The ruling LDF also sought to present the Congress as a pale imitation of the BJP, accusing Rahul Gandhi of being fearful of being alienated by the Hindu and Christian voters in Kerala by the optics of Rahul cocooned in IUML flags.

Ironically, the BJP spoke the same language as the LDF while targetting the Congress for ditching the IUML flag at the rally on Wednesday. Union minister Smriti Irani, who was canvassing in Wayanad for the BJP candidate K Surendran, also poked fun at Rahul Gandhi and said the Congress leader was “ashamed” of its ally which was evident by the missing IUML flags during his roadshow.

Irani further said that if Rahul was ashamed of the Induan Union Muslim League, he should reject their support. Notably, Irani had defeated Rahul from the Amethi seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader VD Satheesan advised the CPI(M) to refrain from lecturing the Congress on how to conduct a campaign. ” In the last elections, the BJP created a controversy. This time, the CPI(M) has stepped in. Vijayan is attacking Rahul Gandhi at the behest of the BJP. We know how to conduct Rahul’s roadshow,” he said.

The IUML holds considerable sway in the Wayanad seat and proved key to Rahul’s win in the constituency with a significant Muslim population. In a related development, the Congress party on Thursday officially turned down the unilateral support offered to it by the SDPI, the political wing of the banned right-wing Islamist outfit PFI after the BJP attacked it over the issue.