LUCKNOW: After tendering his resignation from the post of All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) chief, Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit his erstwhile parliamentary constituency Amethi on July 10.
He will first reach Lucknow and then proceed to Gauriganj in Amethi by road. This would be the first visit of the former Congress chief to Amethi which he lost in a battle of prestigious to BJP’s Smriti Irani by a margin of over 55,000 votes in recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Rahul now represents Kerala’s Wayanad in Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi had offered to step down from his post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for Congress' abysmal performance in the 17th Lok Sabha Elections. Last week, he finally made his resignation letter public through Twitter and empowering the CWC to choose his successor.
As per Amethi agenda, Rahul Gandhi will meet Congress workers at Gauriganj over a meal and will attend a programme at Shiv Mahesh College. He is also likely to assess reasons for his party's humiliating defeat in the general elections in Uttar Pradesh and will take feedback from workers.
Besides his parents -- Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul had represented Amethi in Lok Sabha thrice from 2004 to 2014. In 2014 general elections, BJP had fielded Smriti Irani for the first time against him. Though she lost it to Rahul but managed to shrink his victory margin from 3.70 lakh votes to 1.07 lakh votes. He took over the reins of the Congress party as chief in 2017.
Notably, Congress’s 2014 tally of two came down to one in 2019 battle as UPA chairperson could manage to sail through in Rae Bareli though with much-reduced margin.
However, the political pundits feel that the upcoming Amethi visit of the Gandhi scion is too little too late to assuage the party cadre after 2019 defeat.
“Rahul had been accused of ignoring the interests and development of Amethi as its MP. Surprisingly, after losing the family bastion to the BJP, he felt the need to visit his karyakartas after one and a half months of Lok Sabha results,” says Prof AK Mishra, a senior political scientist.
“Gandhis used to project Amethi as their extended family. But neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanaka felt the need to share the pain of their disheartened cadre after 2019 debacle. Both siblings have done little in UP since 2019 results but tweets,” said a veteran political thinker and former Congress leader.