Lucknow: Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi would briefly visit Kanpur on Wednesday to meet the family of Shubham Dwivedi, who was among the 26 killed in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
“After completing his Raebareli and Amethi visit, Rahul ji would visit Shubham’s family in Kanpur,” UP Congress Committee chief Ajay Rai told PTI on Tuesday.
Gandhi began his two-day visit to Raebareli, his Lok Sabha constituency, and adjoining Amethi, his former constituency from which he had been elected MP thrice, on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a joint session of both houses of the Parliament on the issue of Pahalgam attack.
Rai recalled how Gandhi had rushed to Kashmir on hearing about the terror strike to meet the kin of the deceased and those injured.
“When it comes to matters of national unity the Congress and its leadership have always put the nation first. Rahul ji plans to meet Shubham’s kin to share their grief and assure them that the Congress party stands with them at this moment,” said Rai, who had attended the last rites of Shubham on April 23.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had visited Kanpur on April 23 to meet Shubham’s family.
After meeting the family, Adityanath said that no stone would be left unturned to bring the culprits of the Pahalgam terror strike to justice.
After landing at the Lucknow airport on Tuesday, Gandhi headed straight to Raebareli, where he was seen mingling with the masses before unveiling the statue of Subhas Chandra Bose at the Civil Lines Chauraha.
Ahead of his arrival in Raebareli, some BJP functionaries had put up posters against Gandhi.
“Tum jaativaad se todoge, hum rashtravaad se jodenge. Rahul Gandhi ji hamari Rae Bareli ko jaativaad main mat uljhayiyen (we will thwart your bid to divide on caste lines by uniting people through patriotism),” read a poster put up by a local BJP leader in Harchandpur.
Just before Gandhi’s UP visit, a poster released from the Congress’s social media handle titled ‘Gayab’ (missing) that seemed to target BJP’s top leadership over the Pahalgam terror strike stirred a fresh political controversy with many BJP leaders slamming the Congress post.
Shubham Dwivedi, a 31-year-old businessman from Kanpur, got married just two months back on February 12. On April 22, the Dwivedi household was rocked as news came in that Shubham was gunned down right in front of his wife in Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
He had gone to Kashmir on a week-long vacation on April 16 with his wife and nine other family members.
