NEW DELHI: In an effort to reach out to the people of Amethi, the fallen Gandhi family fort, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit there later this month. At present, he is on a three-day visit to Wayanad to thank the people and the party workers in his new Lok Sabha constituency.
Rahul, who lost to Union minister Smriti Irani by over 55,000 votes in his family pocket borough, is expected to meet party workers and express gratitude to the people who voted for him.
“He is expected to go to Amethi later this month. He has always considered the people of Amethi as his family and would reach out to them during the visit,” said a party source, adding that finer details of the visit were being worked keeping in mind the Lok Sabha session that is scheduled to begin on June 17.
Amethi had remained a stronghold of the Nehru-Gandhi family for decades until this election when people, who were angry over Rahul’s absence from the constituency, elected Irani, who kept coming back and lent an ear to their problems despite losing the 2014 polls to the Congress president.
Rahul was three-time MP from Amethi, a seat vacated by his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in 2004 as she moved to Rae Bareli. It had elected four of Gandhi family members — Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul’s defeat from Amethi has hit the party hard. The Congress had constituted a two-member committee to analyse the reasons for his defeat.
His sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was managing the party’s campaign in Amethi and Rae Bareli, is scheduled to hold an assessment meeting of party workers in Uttar Pradesh later this week and Rahul’s loss in Amethi is also expected to be discussed.
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