KALPETTA (WAYANAD): Congress president Rahul Gandhi may have twice cancelled his plan to visit Pulwama terror attack martyr V V Vasantha Kumar’s house following Maoist threats. Now as his sister and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is set to visit Vasantha’s ancestral home on Saturday, members of his family and Kuruma tribe, to which he belonged, are planning a grand welcome. The body of CRPF jawan Vasantha, killed in February, was buried at his ancestral home in Vazhakkandi.
“We’ve been informed about Priyanka’s visit. We’re very excited,” said Rukmini, said a local resident as a poster paying homage to the CRPF jawan formed the background near the Vazhakkandi culture centre.
Jawan’s wife, kids looking forward to meeting Priyanka
Vazhakkandi colony, 20 km from Kalpetta, has nearly 30 families belonging to the Kuruma tribe. Vasantha’s cousin Sajeev, now staying at the ancestral home, said the former’s wife Sheena, young children Anamika and Amardeep, who are staying at Lakkidi, will turn up for the meeting.
Sheena is looking forward to meeting Priyanka, but told Express it would not be a political one, adding all political parties helped them in the hour of need. “The LDF Government made my job permanent while Suresh Gopi MP ensured the children got admission to the Kendriya Vidyalaya School,” she said. The government has also promised to build them a house near the school once they find a plot. Was the Mao threat real? Sajeev said when Rahul’s visit was announced earlier last month, three persons visited Vasantha’s house at Vazhakkandi unannounced.
“They asked me where was Vasantha’s house vehicle kept. They also entered the house, surveyed the surroundings,” he said. Sajeev alerted the police about the visitors which may have led to the cancellation of Rahul’s visit. Later, the Congress workers enquired if Vasantha’s family could visit Rahul during his campaign trail. “We declined this as it’s not proper for us to go and meet him during an election campaign,” said Sajeev.