Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said she had been campaigning in elections for 35 years, but this was the first time when she was seeking support for herself.
Addressing a huge gathering at Kalpetta before filing nominations for the upcoming Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, Priyanka Gandhi said, ‘I was 17 when I campaigned for my father (former PM Rajiv Gandhi). Then I campaigned for my mother and brother and many of my colleagues. For 35 years I have been campaigning in different elections, but this is the first time I am campaigning in an election and seeking your support for myself. It is a very different feeling’. She said that she considers it an honour to be chosen to represent the people of Wayanad. She further said that she was deeply touched by the courage shown by people of Wayanad at the time of landslides that hit the district.
Priyanka Gandhi also thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the opportunity to contest the election. Her statement also comes a day after BJP's Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll candidate Navya Haridas said she was more experienced in representing people than Priyanka. While, Rahul Gandhi said what Wayanad had done for him cannot be expressed in words. He said Wayanad will have an official MP and an unofficial MP in Lok Sabha and they will both raise your issues’.
During Priyanka's speech, Congress Parliamentary party president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and other senior party leaders were present on the stage. Wayanad is among 48 Lok Sabha seats voting on November 13. The counting of votes will take place on November 23, alongside the results for Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.