Rahul files papers from Wayanad

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Wayanad: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday filed his papers to contest election from Kerala’s Wayanad. He landed there by a helicopter in the morning, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and headed to the district collectorate in Kalpetta.
A huge crowd of Congress workers and supporters carrying party flags greeted the siblings as they stood on a truck and waved at the crowd during their roadshow to mark the beginning of Rahul’s Wayanad campaign.
A marching band was part of the procession that took them to the government office. Heavy security was in place in and around the collectorate ahead of the high-profile visit of the Congress leader.
The party announced last week that Rahul would contest from the hilly Kerala district in addition to Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh that has voted him to Parliament since 2004.
Gandhi reached Kozhikode, 73 km from Wayanad, Wednesday evening to a grand welcome by hundreds of party workers. Priyanka Gandhi, who joined the party in January as one of its general secretaries in charge of Uttar Pradesh, had reached shortly before her brother.
The Congress chief was received at the airport by former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and other leaders of the Congress-led alliance in the state. Rahul and Priyanka spent the night at a guest house in Kozhikode.
The Congress president’s decision to contest from a second seat bolstered the BJP’s charge that Rahul is ‘‘running away’’ because he is unsure of his prospects in Amethi, where he has been challenged by Union Minister Smriti Irani for the second time.
He explained Tuesday that he was fighting from Wayanad because: “South India feels hostility from Narendra Modi; I wanted to send a message that I am standing with you.”
Modi alleged at a public rally in Maharashtra that the Congress was “afraid” because it had insulted Hindus by using the term “Hindu terror” and knew it would be punished by the community,
Wayanad, a relatively backward region, is home to Kerala’s largest tribal population. Eighteen per cent of the district’s vote share is that of tribals.
The Congress said by choosing Wayanad, Rahul will be contesting from a seat that represents three southern states. Wayanad shares borders with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The NDA coalition has fielded Thushar Vellapally of the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena to take on the Congress president.
Wayanad will vote April 23 and Amethi May 6. The counting of votes in the staggered national election will be held May 23.