Rahul Gandhi Wants Women MPs To Become More Vocal In House

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is expected to maintain an assertive approach in Parliament. He plans to call for the unprecedented landslides in Kerala's Wayanad to be declared a national calamity. This move is part of his continued efforts to address significant issues and bring attention to the needs of the affected regions.

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is likely to continue his aggressive stance in Parliament and will demand a national calamity status for the unprecedented landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad next week.

Rahul Gandhi was the Wayanad MP from 2019-2024 and won the parliamentary seat again in 2024, but vacated it to represent the Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha. Priyanka Gandhi will contest the upcoming bypoll from there and is expected to win easily.

“Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi toured the Wayanad landslides area for two days during which they met the victims of the massive tragedy and expressed their solidarity with them. The area has not seen something like this before and needs huge effort both from the Centre and the state government. The union budget did not allocate funds for Kerala to deal with natural disasters. Hence, we are going to seek a special package worth Rs 10,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation of landslide victims in Wayanad. The LoP will raise the issue in the House and demand that the Wayanad tragedy be declared a national calamity,” Kerala Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden told ETV Bharat.

“Besides, the Congress is also mobilising its resources to help the affected people. The party will build around 200 houses for the displaced persons. The K Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka has also assured to build 100 houses in Wayanad as a goodwill gesture. More help from the NGOs is also coming,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi, a former Congress chief, has also asked the party leaders in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to extend all possible help to the persons affected by heavy rains and landslides in the two hill states. Subsequently, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu and his PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh are supervising the relief efforts in the state. Former Uttarakhand unit chief Ganesh Godiyal, along with other party workers, has been helping out the people in his state.

While he has been raising public issues in the House, LoP Rahul Gandhi is keen that the Congress women MPs in the Lok Sabha should be more vocal and participate in various debates and discussions. He recently had an interaction with the women MPs.

“It was a very good interaction. Many of us are first-time MPs. The LoP wanted us to take a more active part in the House proceedings, in raising women’s issues and asking questions. Besides, we also wanted to discuss several issues related to women in our constituencies with him,” Davangere Lok Sabha MP Prabha Mallikarjun told ETV Bharat.

According to party insiders, Rahul has also pushed the name of Kerala MP and AICC in charge of organisation as the new chairperson of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, which examines expenditure of key government schemes.

A recommendation for the same has been sent to the Speaker from CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a notification is expected next week, said party insiders. Venugopal had accompanied both Rahul and Priyanka during the Wayanad visit.