Rahul Gandhi to skip Kerala rally, Kharge to address gathering instead

NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will not be attending the public meeting scheduled to be held in Kerala on Wednesday.

Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge will address the rally in Kerala instead of Gandhi.

A rally has been organised in Kozhikode by Congress, marking the start of what is expected to be an intense and wide-ranging outreach across key locations in the state.

Kerala will go to the polls on April 9 to elect 140 legislators.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gandhi had said he would not attend the all-party meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening, citing the programme in Kerala. However, he welcomed the initiative for broader consultation.

"It's good that an all-party meeting has been called -- there should be discussion. But you have made a structural mistake. You have destroyed the entire framework. Now you cannot fix it; it will take a long time to set it right," he said.