Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday arrived at the Calicut Airport in Kerala and will travel to his constituency in Wayanad, where he is scheduled to address a public meeting to thank the people for his Lok Sabha win.
The Congress MP has scheduled two programmes in his constituency, the first at Edavanna in Malappuram district and the second at Kalpetta in Wayanad district. The Congress has also planned a road show for Rahul Gandhi where he will be joined by the state leaders.
Rahul Gandhi has won, the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala. He will vacate one of the two seats as per the legal requirements.
However, Rae Bareli remains the bastion for Gandhis for decades and political strategists in Congress favour the Uttar Pradesh constituency to consolidate the party's presence in the biggest and decisive state.
In 1999, when Sonia Gandhi contested Rae Bareli and Bellary (now Ballari) in Karnataka, she chose to retain the UP constituency that has led to constituency moving into the hands of BJP that saw late Sushma Swaraj gaining control and ushering a new life into the state BJP circles.
'UP showed the way': Rahul Gandhi in Raebareli
A day before visiting Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi visited Raebareli and Amethi and thanked the voters for voting for the INDIA bloc. While Rahul Gandhi won the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli, in addition to retaining his seat in Kerala's Wayanad, Congress' Kishori Lal Sharma won from Amethi.
Addressing an 'Aabhar Sabha' in Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi said that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, people voted against those who planned to change the Constitution. "People have forced them to touch the Constitution to their foreheads now," he said.
The Congress MP also said that it was for the first time that different parties across the country fought together as one army and it was Uttar Pradesh that showed them the way.
"You have changed the political narrative of the country. But the work is not over yet. In fact, it has only begun. The BJP lost Ayodhya because not a single person from the poor or weaker sections was present in the consecration ceremony. Ayodhya gave a befitting reply in the elections," he said.
Rahul Gandhi also said that had Priyanka agreed to contest the Varanasi seat, the results would have been different there. But there is a buzz among political circles that Priyanka Gandhi may choose to contest from Wayanad or Rae Bareli, depending on which seat Rahul Gandhi decides to vacate.
(With inputs from IANS)
