Wayanad

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday assured the people of Kerala's Wayanad, that as their new MP, she would spend day and night fighting for a better, stronger future for them and they should get used to seeing her regularly in their midst, interacting with them and understanding and resolving their problems.

Addressing a public meeting in the Mananthavady area of the hill district, on the second day of her thanksgiving visit, she identified issues like education and healthcare facilities, expediting the completion of the Medical College, promoting tourism and helping the farmers to get right prices for their produce, as her top priorities.

Thanking the people of Wayanad for such a huge victory, Priyanka Gandhi said: "I want you to know that each one of you who waited for me, each one of you who met me during the campaign, everyone who stood outside their houses on streets, gave me your love and affection, I want each one of you to know that you are my responsibility, that I take your love with complete seriousness and it is my duty to fight for you, to give you a better future in the next 5 years and ahead."

Reiterating that this was just the beginning of a long journey with the people of Wayanad, she said: "I look forward to meeting all of you, to coming to your homes, to understand you better and to get from you a much deeper understanding of what you want me to fight for, how you want your issues to be resolved."

Noting that in one of her meetings on Saturday, a person in the crowd had asked her to promise that she was going to come back, Priyanka Gandhi quipped: "So, I am promising you that I will come so many times that you will get fed up of me. So, please get used to seeing me, and let us travel on this beautiful journey of making a better life, a stronger future together."

"These two days, I am going around... to every Assembly segment thanking everybody for the love and the affection you have given me, but after this, my real work will begin and we will work together to resolve all the issues that you are facing and the first task is to start learning Malayalam," she said, speaking some lines in the language.

"... I am learning more also," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi, who won her first-ever election from Wayanad in the bypoll necessitated by her brother and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi resigning as MP from the southern state to retain the family borough of Rae Bareli in UP, comfortably romped home, securing more votes than he had secured in the general elections earlier this year and slightly short of his victory margin in 2019.

In her address, she also welcomed her colleagues from the Congress-led United Democratic Front, acknowledging how hard they had worked and especially commended the UDF workers "to whom I owe this victory".

"Because for many years… for 35 years, I managed elections for my mother and brother. I understand the kind of hard work that goes into elections and campaigning on the ground. So, I know very well that such big margins are not possible unless there is very hard work by each and every worker on the ground and I thank you all for that," she said.

Dwelling on the issues facing the people of Wayanad, she stressed how those who have built beautiful homestays face major issues, especially after the landslide when people across India saw the devastation and became afraid to come.

"It must be made clear and disseminated that the landslide hit a small area and the rest of Wayanad is beautiful and still welcomes tourists and there is no such danger over here," she said.

"If we strengthen tourism here and we do all we can to show the world what a beautiful place this is then a lot of your livelihoods will be supplemented and you will have better employment possibilities," she said, also pitching for some food packaging units for "the beautiful crops that you grow and the spices you grow".

The Congress leader also praised the spirit of courage and bravery of the people of Wayanad, adding when she saw them during the tragedy, in the middle of this devastation and the middle of this pain and suffering, she saw with her own eyes their humanity.

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Citing the inspiring message from a youth who had lost his family in the tragedy and with whom she is in regular touch, Priyanka Gandhi said: " I really deeply understood what an honour it is to be the representative of all of you in Parliament. Because maybe you don’t fully realise what a symbol of the true values that India stands for lies here in Wayanad."