'I feel the pain that I felt when my father died,' says Rahul Gandhi after visiting landslides-hit Wayanad

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Wayanad former MP Rahul Gandhi has said that the pain of the people of Wayanad was more severe that what he felt when his father, late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated.

"I now feel how I felt when my father died. The people here not just lost their father, but many members of their families. Hence their pain will be worse than what I felt. It was very difficult to talk to the people who lost many family members," Rahul told reporters after visiting the landslide survivors and the landslide hit spots on Thursday.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who accompanied Rahul, also said that she too had the same feeling that her brother (Rahul) felt. 

While Rahul said that the Congress would also see how the party could help the survivors, Priyanka added that most of the victims did not want to live in the same region again and hence they need to be rehabilitated at other safe places.

Rahul said that for him the Wayanad landslide felt like a national disaster only and would wait for the government's decision on the matter. 'It is a terrible tragedy for the whole nation. We need to ensure that the survivors are duly rehabilitated," he said.

He also added that he would not like to discuss politics over the issue at this point of time.

Rahul, who was Wayand MP from 2019, was re-elected from Wayanad in this election also. But he had decided to retain the Raebareli seat. The Congress had already announced Priyanka as the party candidate for the by-election at Wayanad.