wayanad keralas wayanad has shot to limelight with rahul gandhi choosing the tribaldominated constituency but forest dwellers here remain oblivious to heated political discussions over the congress chiefs move to go down south saying food shelter and fighting elephant attacks are issues of priority for themtribals constitute around 18 per cent population of the wayanad district the lok sabha seat has two assembly segments sultan bathery and mananthavadi which are reserved for themwe dont have shelters or good habitation there are no roads no proper drinking water we do not have much hope in them politicians said a tribal man living in the forests of wayanadaccording to a tribal woman the main issue is fighting elephant attackswe face problems due to attacks by elephants at our homes inside the forest we wont cast vote this time there is no use of participating in elections she saidthe area is home to tribals for centuries and the ethnic groups they belong to are paniyas kurumas adiyars kurichyas and kattunaikkanstraditionally wayanad is the land of tribals they were never bothered about owning the land in their name but now they have become alien in their own land dr jithendranath who has been working for the tribals in wayanad for over four decades told ptithe sulthan batherybased doctor said issues like malnutrition were still prevalent among the tribals in the areathe staple food of the tribals are meat and fruits but the government through various programmes distribute items like milk powder and rice forcing them to change their food habitsthey cannot survive merely on such food items they have no use of milk powder or rice malnutrition is highest among them he saidhe urged party leaders prepping for the elections in wayanad to first learn their dialects as he feels that is the only way to understand and solve their basic problemsplease dont see them as vote banks he saidto take on gandhi while ldf has fielded cpi candidate p p suneer from the seat thushar vellapally of the bdjs is the nda candidatecongresss m i shanavas who died last november after long illness has been a twotime mp from the seat he won the lok sabha elections of 2014 by defeating cpis sathyan mokeri by over 20000 votes