Kochi: Rahul Gandhi, Congress president and the new Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Wayanad seat, arrived in Kerala on Friday afternoon to visit his Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. The new MP is expected to take part in road shows in all the seven Assembly constituencies that comprise the Lok Sabha seat during the two-day visit.
Hours later Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also arriving in the state.
Rahul arrived at Calicut International Airport, Karipur, a little after 2 pm on Friday. His receiving committee included Kerala's Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and KPCC President Mullappally Ramachandran. He will be touring three Assembly constituencies in Malappuram - Nilambur, Eranad and Wandoor -- and thereafter visit Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district.
He will reach Kalpetta late evening on Friday for overnight stay and visit the Assembly constituencies in Wayanad the next day, before boarding his flight from Kannur airport on Sunday.
The constituency visit could be the first public appearance of the Congress chief outside Delhi ever since the party's huge defeat in the Lok Sabha election and himself losing from the Amethi constituency to BJP leader Smriti Irani.
It is said Rahul's candidature in Wayanad likely influenced the unprecedented victory of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. UDF won 19 out of the 20 seats in the southern state.
Modi to visit Guruvayur temple
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer prayers at the famous shrine of Sri Krishna at Guruvayur in Kerala on Saturday.
An official release in Kochi said the Prime Minister will arrive at 11.35 pm on Friday and stay at the Government Guest House there overnight.
He will offer prayers at the Guruvayur temple on Saturday morning after reaching there by a special helicopter from the Naval Airport in Kochi.
Modi will return to Kochi at 12.40 pm, it said.
This would be Modi's first visit to Kerala after taking charge as prime minister for the second term. He will be accompanied by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
Modi's visit assumes political significance in the wake of the BJP drawing a blank in the recently held Lok Sabha polls in Kerala despite the party storming back to power at the centre with a thumping majority.
Modi, along with BJP president Amit Shah, had extensively campaigned in Kerala in the run-up to the polls in which BJP held high hopes of opening account.
Modi's visit is likely to boost the party machinery ahead of the impending Assembly bypolls in the state.
