india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 21:39 IST

When Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visits Amethi on Wednesday, he is bound to signal his continuing association and family bonding with the people of his erstwhile constituency that was once considered a Nehru-Gandhi family bastion.

“Rahul will be in Amethi to interact with partymen at the Nirmala Devi Shaikshin Sansthan in Gauriganj on Wednesday. After interaction with the workers, Rahul may also pay a personal visit to some local Congress leaders to condole death of their near and dear ones,” said Amethi Congress spokesman Anil Singh.

A detailed programme of Rahul Gandhi’s visit though is still awaited, this will be the first visit of the now Wayanad MP to his former Lok Sabha seat that he lost to Union minister Smriti Irani by a margin of about 55,000 votes.

Rahul’s visit to Amethi comes about a month after Congress general secretary for east UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra skipped a visit to the constituency during a thanks-giving function in Rae Bareli on June 12, which she attended along with her mother Sonia Gandhi.

On June 12, Priyanka also reviewed the party’s poll performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with party’s candidates, coordinators, district office bearers and senior leaders of east UP at the Bhuemau Guest House in Rae Bareli. At this meeting, Priyanka had said she would identify those partymen who did not work for the grand old party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka had been over the years speaking about the “parivarik rishta” (family relationship) with the two Lok Sabha constituencies. At Priyanka’s behest a two-member committee comprising All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Zubair Ahmad and Sonia Gandhi’s Lok Sabha representative in Rae Bareli KL Sharma was sent to Amethi to ascertain reasons for Rahul Gandhi’s defeat there.

Interestingly, partymen had pointed out alleged misuse of official machinery and how some BSP and Samajwadi Party leaders campaigned for the BJP though the SP-BSP-RLD alliance had left the seat for Congress in the polls.