Rahul Gandhi to visit Amethi on Wednesday for the first time since Lok Sabha election defeat

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday will visit Amethi for the first time since losing from this constituency in Lok Sabha election 2019. He is expected to meet Congress representatives here and may also interact with a few locals.

Amethi has been a family bastion for the Gandhi family with Rahul himself winning every Lok Sabha election here since 2004. The record, however, was shattered when Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to stage an epic win earlier this year. While she was hailed as a ‘giant killer’, Rahul had wished her for the triumph. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to hold meetings with party officials to take stock of the ground situation.

Long accused by the BJP of having ignored the needs and wants of Amethi, Rahul had had to face enormous flak for having lost from Amethi. which had been won by the likes of Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi as well as Sonia Gandhi in years gone by. In fact, had Rahul not contested from Wayanad in Kerala, he would have not been able to even make way to the Parliament.

Times are tough for Congress which managed to win only 52 seats in Lok Sabha election 2019. Times are tougher for Rahul and he has remained determined to step down as party president. Several political analysists feel that he was left with no option because not only was he unable to lead a Congress comeback after an absolute drubbing in Lok Sabha election 2014 but also failed to win from Amethi.

Wednesday’s visit, therefore, assumes significance as it could signal Rahul finally going down to the grassroot level. Here, he will visit the five assembly segments – Salon, Amethi, Gauriganj, Jagdishpur and Tiloi, and may also visit several villages in close proximity. Sources in the Congress say that the main reason for the visit is to find out the crux of the reasons for the poll drubbing Rahul had to suffer here.