'Modi uses poison, represents hatred': Rahul at first public event after poll drubbing

Wayanad, June 08: At his first public appearance after Congress' drubbing at the hands of the BJP in Lok Sabha elections, party president Rahul Gandhi, who is in Kerala's Wayanad, continued where he had left during the election campaigns and launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress president, who was adamant to step down as the party chief, today said PM Modi "uses poison of hatred" to divide this country. His remarks come days after PM Modi stormed to power second time in a row after the BJP won 303 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

"At the national level we are fighting poison. Mr Narendra Modi uses poison, I am using a strong word but Mr Narendra Modi uses poison of hatred to divide this country. He uses anger and hatred to divide the people of this country. He uses lies to win election," he said in Wayanad today during a roadshow.

Gandhi, who contested LS polls from two seats, won general elections from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. The other seat is Amethi in Uttar Pradesh from where he lost to BJP's Smriti Irani. This is his first visit to Wayanad after elections.

"He represents the worst sentiments of this country. He represents anger, he represents hatred, he represents insecurity and he represents lies," Rahul added.

Thanking voters for electing him as the MP, Rahul said, "Even though I belong to the Congress party our doors will be open for every single citizen of Wayanad, regardless of their age, regardless from where they come from, regardless of what ideology they come from."

Gandhi, who won the seat by a record margin of 4.31 lakh votes, is expected to hold six roadshows in major towns across Wayanad district. In the hi-octane battle in Amethi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was the sitting MP from there, lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi also contested from Wayanad in Kerala and won by a massive margin. Irani had cornered Rahul when Congress decided to field him from Amethi as well as Wayanad. She had then said that Rahul contesting from two seats show that he was certain of losing to her.