Rahul Gandhi to visit Wayanad 1st time since disqualification from Parliament

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Saba seat in Kerala by a margin of over 400000 votes in 2019

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Kerala’s Wayanad, where he was in 2019 elected to Parliament from, on Tuesday for the first time since he was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member when a court in Gujarat last month found him guilty of defamation and sentenced him to two-year imprisonment.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (REUTERS)

T Siddique, a Congress member of the Kerala assembly, said Gandhi will hold a roadshow and address a public meeting. He added around 100000 people, including Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were expected to attend the meeting.

Siddique said Rahul Gandhi’s event will be a show of strength against the disqualification, which triggered protests in Wayanad. He added workers of all constituents of Kerala’s Congress-led Opposition United Democratic Front will attend the roadshow. Siddique said instead of party flags, they will be holding the national flag.

“It is a fight to revive the democratic traditions of the country. The Wayanad event will add to the momentum building up in the country. Workers will pledge their support to Rahul Gandhi. It will be a grand event,” he said.

He said workers from three districts will converge in a show of support for Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi earlier wrote to his voters explaining the circumstances that led to his “abrupt disqualification” and about the “plan to fight back against the undemocratic policies” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Last week, Congress workers went door-to-door distributing copies of Rahul Gandhi’s letter written to voters in Wayanad.

Congress leaders said Rahul Gandhi will fly to Wayanad in a chopper from the Kannur airport and leave for poll-bound Karnataka after addressing the public meeting.

Angry Congress workers took to the streets in Wayanad when the news about Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification broke last month. They blocked roads and shouted slogans against the Union government and Modi.

Congress workers laid siege around central government offices and prompted police to step up security at offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological fount Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Protests were also held across Kerala.

Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Saba seat by a margin of over 400000 votes in 2019.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was among the leaders who decried Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification. He called the “use of force to suppress dissent” a “fascist method” and said all democratic forces in the country should stand together and condemn the action taken against Rahul Gandhi.

Congress is the main opposition party in Kerala.