KOZHIKODE: Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi attended the election campaign at Vellamunda for Mananthavady UDF candidate P K Jayalakshmi on Sunday. This is his second visit in a week. Green flags of the Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) were also included in the campaign along with the flags of the Indian National Congress.
His last visit became a heated topic as no IUML flag was seen during his roadshow in Mananthavady. The CPM alleged that this revealed the unholy alliance between Congress and the RSS. The CPM Wayanad district secretary A N Prabhakaran said green flags were avoided purposefully and the act questions the very existence of the IUML party. Meanwhile, some videos that appeared on social media showed a few IUML supporters holding a folded green flag during the rally. The use of flags was the main topic even during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Many on social media misidentified the IUML flag for the Pakistan flag in 2019.
However, Congress has denied all controversies related to the use of flags and the campaign held on Sunday witnessed a huge crowd holding both the flags of the Indian National Congress and IUML. Rahul addressed the public at a corner meeting held at St Anne’s School at Vellamunda. Prominent IUML leaders, including Palakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, also attended the event. Rahul visited Thirunelly temple and St Sebastian’s church at Edappetty in the morning. Later, he went to Jeevan Jyothi Children’s Home in Kalpetta. He had lunch with the children of the home.