On his first visit to Amethi since losing the Lok Sabha seat to Union Minister Smriti Irani, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 10 July, attributed his defeat to local leaders staying away from the people and assured he will not abandon the constituency, party functionaries said.
"I will not leave Amethi. It is my home and family," former state Youth Congress chief Nadeem Ashraf Jayasi quoted Gandhi as saying at a meeting.
"The development of Amethi will not be hampered. I am the MP from Wayanad but my ties with Amethi are three decades old. I will fight for Amethi in Delhi," Gandhi reportedly told party workers.
Gandhi Appreciates Party Workers
District Congress committee member Narendra Mishra said Gandhi appreciated the hard work by party workers.
According to him, Gandhi said the workers did a lot during the campaign but local leaders remained away from the people, leading to his defeat.
Many workers said the Congress was weak in the entire district and the party campaign lacked direction, according to the participants.
They alleged that some party men worked with the BJP in the constituency, reported PTI.
They also unanimously demanded that Gandhi should withdraw his resignation from the party president's post.
The meeting with party workers, including booth presidents from five Assembly segments – Salon, Amethi, Gauriganj, Jagdishpur and Tiloi – lasted barely 50 minutes. Gandhi then left for two villages in Chhatoh block on the way to Lucknow, from where he flew back to Delhi.
‘Feels Like Coming Home’
Sharing photos from his visit on Twitter, Gandhi said, “Very happy to come to Amethi. Coming to Amethi feels like coming home.”
On reaching Amethi, Gandhi first went to Gauriganj and visited the house of his party’s Tiloi Assembly in-charge Mata Prasad Vaish, whose relative died on 25 June, and expressed condolences to the grieving family.
Later, he attended the review meeting with party office-bearers and leaders at Nirmala Devi Educational Institute in Gauriganj.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi also thanked his now 10 million Twitter followers and said that he would celebrate the milestone in Amethi.
Ahead of his visit, a poster appeared outside the party office demanding justice for the death of a man who was allegedly denied treatment by a hospital run by the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust.
In May, Irani had shared a video on Twitter that showed a man claiming that the hospital refused treatment to his uncle because the family held an Ayushman Bharat card.
The hospital had rejected the charge.
In a historic poll battle, Irani defeated Gandhi in his bastion by more than 55,000 votes. Following the drubbing, his representative Chandrakant Dubey and Congress district president Yogendra Mishra had resigned from their posts.
Gandhi had represented the Amethi Lok Sabha seat since 2004. He is currently a Member of Parliament from Wayanad constituency in Kerala.
(With inputs from PTI)
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