Rahul Gandhi holds tourist visa, I have a permanent visa: BJP’s Wayanad pick

K Surendran, the BJP’s candidate for the constituency, insisted that the people of Wayanad are ready to repeat what the people of Amethi did in 2019 and said voters are “tired” of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi served as their MP.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV on Tuesday, the Kerala BJP president also took a dig at Mr Gandhi and said that while Congress leaders travel across the country and even abroad and come to Wayanad on a “tourist visa”, But he is a local resident and has a “permanent visa.”

When asked why the BJP thought it had hope in Wayanad this time despite Rahul Gandhi getting over 64% of the votes in 2019 and winning by over 4 lakh votes, Suren “In 2109, people welcomed Rahul Gandhi wholeheartedly,” said Mr. Deran, who supported him massively. But unfortunately, nothing happened. Rahulji did nothing for Wayanad. I am not saying that he cheated Wayanad but people in the constituency are completely disillusioned and fed up with Rahul Gandhi. “

“Such an irresponsible Congressman. How many times has Rahul Gandhi come to Wayanad? What progress or projects has he brought to the constituency? More than 20% of Wayanad’s population is from Scheduled Tribe communities. Rahul What was Gandhi’s contribution? This gross oversight is the talk of the town in Wayanad,” he claimed.

Mr. Surendran pointed out that Wayanad has been awarded the tag of “Aspirational District” and said that a committee under the District Collector is discussing various projects in the area. He claimed that while Smriti Irani, who was a Union Minister, attended the planning meetings twice, Gandhi did not attend even once.

He also asked Mr Gandhi to reveal which village he had chosen under the Adarsh ​​Gram Yojana and his contribution there. “Does Rahul Gandhi have any projects in Wayanad? How much money has he raised for Wayanad besides MPLAD (Member of Parliament for Local Development),” the BJP leader asked.

number crunching

On the BJP’s arithmetic in Wayanad, considering that the Communist Party of India has also fielded its national executive member Annie Raja, Mr. Surendran said: “Annie Raja is a great leader People. She has a lot of responsibilities in all states and is traveling across India. Rahul Gandhi is traveling across India and even abroad but people in Wayanad actually want a local MP. I am from here. Rahul Both L Gandhiji and Anila Rajaji were on tourist visas and I was in Wayanad on a permanent visa. I will work for the people of Wayanad, be with them and solve their problems.”

“This is because I am PM Modi’s soldier. How many votes Rahul Gandhi won last time is not a matter. Look at Amity, this has been a bastion of the Nehru family for decades. People of Wayanad Will do what the people of Amity did (in 2019),” he claimed.

In 2019, Ms Irani achieved a shock victory in Amethi, beating Mr Gandhi by just over 55,000 votes.

In Kerala, however, the Congress won 15 of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats while the BJP won none.

Mr. Surendran continued: “I lost the Manjeshwar Assembly seat (2021) by a narrow margin. I lost the Patnanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency by a margin of 80,000 votes. We are the third front in Kerala, But Modi’s acceptance and popularity in Kerala are growing day by day.” “

“You see the crowd in Wayanad today to greet me. The crowd is not for me but for Narendra Modi. Modi’s assurance will be a major electoral point in Kerala this time. This time we will Winning many seats in Kerala and Wayanad will be one of them,” he said.