Rahul Gandhi visits his former bastion Amethi for the first time since losing to Irani

New Delhi, July 10: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday visited Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, from where he was elected to Lok Sabha four times since 1999 before being defeated by BJP's Smriti Irani in 2019 general elections. This is his first visit the the constituency since election loss.

Gandhi met Congress workers and held eleborate discussions to ascertain the reasons behind the party's defeat. He lost to Irani with a margin of over 50,000 votes.

After Gandhi's defeat, his representative Chandrakant Dubey and district president Yogendra Mishra had resigned. The Gandhi scion will meet party workers at Nirmala Devi Educational Institute in Gauriganj.

Earlier, Congress constituted a two-member panel comprising UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi representative K L Sharma and AICC secretary Zubair Khan to do an autopsy on the debacle.

Citing panel's finding, reports said: "Non-cooperation by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party workers at the grassroots led to Rahul's loss, despite a commitment on support."

In a historic poll battle, Irani defeated Gandhi in his bastion by more than 52,000 votes. Gandhi represented the Amethi Lok Sabha seat since 1999. He is currently a Member of Parliament from Wayanad constituency in Kerala.