Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday described the landslides in Wayanad district of Kerala as a "terrible tragedy" of such magnitude that the state has not seen till now in a single area, and said that it should be treated differently.
The Congress MP said he is going to raise the matter in Delhi and also with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as "this is a different level of tragedy and should be treated differently".
Right now the focus is on finding the bodies and potential survivors, making sure the displaced persons are comfortable in the camps, and rehabilitating them, he said.
The Congress MP said that rehabilitation is going to be very important, as a lot of the survivors told him they did not want to go back to the landslide-hit areas.
"So, I think it is important that they are rehabilitated in a safe area and are not forced to go back. These are the things that we have already raised with the Government of Kerala," he said.
He also promised that the Congress party would build more than 100 houses in Wayanad.
Mr Gandhi was speaking to reporters after a meeting with officials of the district administration and the panchayat, along with Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior Congress leaders.
The officials briefed them about the number of deaths, the houses destroyed and their strategies to search for and rescue people.
Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi, Ms Vadra and other senior party leaders, including AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly VD Satheesan, met a delegation from Meppadi Gram Panchayat to understand their concerns and needs in the wake of the devastating landslides.
The Congress leaders were also briefed by the district administration about the landslides and ongoing rescue operations.
The Congress leader, who arrived in Wayanad a day ago and saw the extent of the destruction caused by the landslides, called it a "national disaster" and demanded an urgent comprehensive action plan to deal with it.
Mr Gandhi, who won from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections, had emerged victorious this year as well. However, as he also won the Raebareli LS seat in Uttar Pradesh, he gave up the Wayanad segment, from where Vadra is expected to contest when a byelection is held there.
