Rahul files papers from 'home' Wayanad; declares assets worth Rs 20 crore

KOZHIKODE: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination on Wednesday for a second successive Lok Sabha term from Wayanad, the Kerala constituency that sent him to Parliament in 2019 after he lost his pocket borough Amethi in UP to BJP's Smriti Irani in a famous rematch.
A 2km roadshow with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for company culminated in Rahul, who won the last election in Wayanad against CPI's PP Suneer by over four lakh votes, arriving at the office of the district collector to submit his nomination papers for the April 26 vote.
"Wayanad is my home, and the people of Wayanad are my family. From them, I have learned a great deal over the last five years and received an abundance of love and affection. It is with great pride and humility that I file my nomination once again," he wrote on X.

According to Rahul's affidavit, he received an income of just over Rs 6cr in the last five years and owns assets valued at Rs 20.4cr. He has 18 criminal cases pending against him.

Will focus on welfare of all in Wayanad irrespective of party affiliations: Rahul
The 18 cases include Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a criminal defamation case by a Gujarat court for his 'Modi surname' remark, which has been stayed by Supreme Court. The affidavit says that as on March 15, Rahul has Rs 55,000 as cash in hand andRs 26,25,157 in his two bank accounts.
As thousands trailed the Gandhi siblings from the Kalpetta bus stand to the civil station, Rahul said he would focus on the welfare of Wayanad's entire population, irrespective of whether they owed allegiance to Congress-led UDF or the governing LDF.

The sitting MP later told reporters at Maravayal's tribal colony that the Lok Sabha vote was a battle for democracy and the Constitution. He said while Congress and the opposition INDIA bloc were fighting to safeguard both, PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP-RSS were allegedly out to destroy them.
Rahul made no mention of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's remarks the other day about how it was "inappropriate" of Congress to be part of the INDIA bloc and yet field him inWayanad against CPI's Annie Raja.

Rahul said Wayanad had many challenges that required solutions, including human-wildlife conflict, the night traffic ban through a forested stretch of the highway cutting through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, and the lack of facilities at Wayanad Medical College.
The former Congress president said his repeated requests to the state govt to resolve these issues had gone unheeded.