Rahul says Amethi still his home, vows to make comeback

As disappointed party workers listed the possible reasons behind his shock defeat on his home turf of Amethi in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi assured them that his relation with the constituency would continue and also vowed to make a comeback.

''I will keep coming here....you (workers) will find me by your side, whenever you need me,'' Rahul told party workers during a meeting in Amethi on Wednesday.

Rahul, who arrived in Amethi on a day long visit, his first after losing the seat to union minister Smriti Irani by over 50 thousand votes, also expressed confidence that he would once again win the seat in he next LS polls.

He said that Congress general secretary and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would also keep visiting Amethi at regular intervals.

Rahul's visit was mainly to ascertain what might have caused his defeat in the Congress bastion and according to the sources, he was told by the workers that several senior leaders the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BSP had campaigned against him in the polls.

The SP and BSP had declared their support for Rahul and had not fielded their candidates from the seat.

Sources said that local Congress workers also complained of lack of coordination among the district party leaders and factionalism in the district unit.

The outgoing Congress president also held a meeting with the village panchayat chiefs to get their views on the outcome of the poll.

The visit comes almost a month after a ''secret review'' conducted by a two-member team, which had been sent by the party's central leadership to Amethi to look into the possible reasons that may have led to the defeat of the outgoing party president.