Rahul Gandhi to visit Kerala’s Wayanad today, first after being reinstated as MP
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will embark on a two-day visit to Kerala’s Wayanad, his parliamentary constituency, starting on Saturday.
This will be his first visit after being reinstated as a member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha following the Supreme Court’s stay order on his conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.
A warm reception has been planned to welcome Gandhi, news agency ANI reported, quoting Kerala Congress Pradesh Committee working president VT Siddique. “There will be a very warm welcome ever hand in the history of Wayanad for Rahul Gandhi,” Siddique said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal tweeted about the visit, saying, “On 12-13 August, Sh. @RahulGandhi ji will be in his constituency Wayanad! The people of Wayanad are elated that democracy has won, and their voice has returned to Parliament! Rahul ji is not just an MP but a member of their family!”
In the second week of September, the Congress MP is also likely to embark on a European tour, covering three countries: Belgium, Norway, and France. During this tour, he is scheduled to meet European Union parliamentarians, the Indian diaspora, and university students.
Top points on Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad visit:
-During his visit to Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi will attend the district party committee meeting on Saturday. When he previously visited Kerala’s constituency during his disqualification, he said that taking away the “MP tag” would not stop him from representing the people of Wayanad in Kerala or intimidate him from raising questions against the Union government.
-A day after the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued an order to restore his membership, following the directive of the Supreme Court, Gandhi was re-allotted his former government bungalow. Gandhi had vacated his 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow in April and moved to his mother Sonia Gandhi’s residence in the national capital after his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
-Gandhi returned to the Lok Sabha on Monday, attended the House proceedings, and delivered his first speech after his membership was reinstated. He spoke about the no-confidence motion his party had moved against the Modi-led central government. The motion, moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and supported by the Opposition bloc – I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) – was defeated on Thursday after an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
-Following Modi’s speech in the Lok Sabha regarding the no-confidence motion on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi criticised him, saying, “It is not appropriate for him to laugh and crack jokes in Parliament while Manipur has been ‘on fire’ for the past four months.”
-Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership was revoked after a Surat court in Gujarat convicted him in a 2019 criminal defamation case related to the “Modi surname” on March 23. After rejections from both the sessions court of Surat and the Gujarat High Court, the Supreme Court stayed his conviction on August 4, stating that the trial judge had failed to explain why he deserved the maximum two-year punishment under the law. The top court held that continuing his disqualification from Parliament would deprive the people of his constituency of proper representation.