Kalpetta (Kerala), April 4
With sister Priyanka Gandhi by his side, Congress president Rahul Gandhi today filed his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala and said he was fighting the Lok Sabha polls from a second seat in the South besides the party bastion Amethi in the North to send a message of unity and that “India is one”.
In a bid to reach out to the Left, Gandhi, 48, also said he wouldn’t say a word against the state’s CPM-led LDF government during his campaign and that he would “absorb all its criticisms with happiness”. The Left is miffed with Gandhi’s candidature from Wayanad.
Wayanad will witness a triangular contest with Left Front constituent CPI’s PP Suneer and BJP-backed NDA candidate Thushar Vellappally also in the fray. Gandhi, who was also accompanied by senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, submitted the papers before district collector AR Ajayakumar at Wayanad district headquarters in Kalpetta.
Hundreds of workers of the Congress and other allies in the party-led UDF assembled outside the district collectorate as Gandhi filed the papers. Wayanad, a scenic hill area in the Western Ghats, has a presence of various ethnic tribal groups. It is a Congress stronghold in South India.
After completing the procedures, Rahul along with Priyanka and senior leaders of the Congress-led UDF in Kerala held a roadshow to greet the voters of the constituency.
Talking to reporters after filing his papers, Rahul said he was fighting the polls from South to send a message that India was one. “There is a feeling in South India that the way the Narendra Modi government is functioning, their (South) culture, language, history all are being attacked.
“So I wanted to give a message that I will fight from North and South,” the Congress chief said, in response to his main opponent in Amethi, Union minister Smriti Irani, who had alleged that his decision to fight from Wayanad was an insult to the people of Amethi.
Priyanka appealed to people of Wayanad to take care of her brother and assured he would not let them down. “My brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he won’t let you down,” she tweeted after the roadshow. — PTI
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2Idkxif
via Today’s News Headlines
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