Rahul Gandhi to begin 2-day visit to flood-hit Kerala today

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will begin a two-day visit to flood-ravaged Kerala on Tuesday, during which he will visit some relief camps and meet fishermen and party volunteers involved in rescue and relief work.

“I will be in Kerala tomorrow and the day after, visiting flood-hit areas and relief camps in the state. I will also meet with fishermen, volunteers and others who have been working tirelessly & selflessly to help those in need,” he said in a tweet.

Gandhi will reach Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and then visit the affected areas of Chengannur, Alappuzha and Angamaly, reported ANI.

He is scheduled to visit Wayanad district on Wednesday.

On Onam, the state’s harvest festival, the Congress chief had expressed his solidarity with the state’s people. “This is a difficult time for the people of Kerala. In relief camps and homes across the state, people are grieving for their loved ones. On this Onam let us pledge to put aside our differences, stand united together and focus on the task of #RebuildingKerala,” he had tweeted on Friday.

Gandhi has also been demanding the Centre declared the Kerala floods, the worst in a century, as a ‘National Disaster’.

The death toll in the second spell of monsoon since August 8 which triggered disastrous landslides and floods in Kerala has risen to 302 till Sunday, the state government said. This has taken the overall toll in rain-related incidents to 454 since May 29, when the south west monsoon had set in over the southern state.

There are still 4,62,456 displaced people in 1435 camps as on Sunday, according to the chief minister’s office.