The Congress’s efforts to repeat the 2019 performance when it won all but one seat in Kerala received a huge fillip with its principal crowd-puller Rahul Gandhi launching his campaign in his constituency, Wayanad, on Wednesday.

The hill district accorded a massive welcome to Rahul, who accompanied by AICC general secretaries K.C. Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders, led a 12km roadshow from Meppadi to Kalpetta and addressed thousands of party workers and curious onlookers, calling them his family.

“I don’t treat or think of you as merely an electorate. I treat you and think of you the same way as I think of my little sister Priyanka who’s over here,” Rahul said, addressing the huge crowd that had gathered in Kalpetta as the motorcade inched towards the office of district collector and returning officer Renu Raj before whom he filed his nomination papers.

“In the houses of Wayanad I have sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Rahul, who had become a household name in the constituency the moment he decided to contest from there in 2019.

Confident of coming to power at the Centre, Rahul promised to solve vexed issues in the hill district like man-animal conflict, lack of a proper medical college and ban on night-time traffic to and from neighbouring Karnataka.

The pitch for Rahul seeking a second term from Wayanad is “Rahulinodoppam Indiakkayi” (Malayalam for “With Rahul, For India”), as the Congress took a determined step towards launching its declared battle to “save democracy and secularism in the country”.

It was a near replica of his maiden entry as a candidate from Wayanad on April 4, 2019, when he had landed in a helicopter and embarked on a roadshow before filing his nomination papers for the first time. Similar enthusiasm greeted him and the party leaders who rode an open truck that took about two hours to cover the 12 kilometres.

In a clear indication that the INDIA bloc was on the back of his mind, Rahul addressed everyone in the constituency regardless of whether they were from the Congress-led United Democratic Front or the CPM-helmed Left Democratic Front.

“I have a relationship with all the people of Wayanad, regardless of whether you are from the UDF or the LDF. It is an honour to be a part of Wayanad and be your MP. By listening to you, talking with you and walking with you in this journey, you have taught me a lot,” Rahul said to loud cheers.

Alliance partners at the national level, the LDF and the UDF are traditional rivals in Kerala.

Wayanad elected Rahul by a record margin of 4,31,770 votes against P.P. Suneer of the CPI in 2019. While the Congress MP appears likely to retain the seat, the contest is tighter this time with the CPI fielding national executive member Annie Raja, who too filed her nomination papers on Wednesday, and the BJP nominating state president K. Surendran.

The voters of Kerala had given a thumping victory to the UDF in 2019 when it won 19 of the 20 seats, leaving only Alappuzha to the CPM. The landslide in the southern state was attributed to the people’s hope of getting a Prime Minister in Rahul if the Congress managed to defeat the BJP at the national level.