Fear of defeat had forced Congress president Rahul Gandhi to contest from Kerala, Tamil Maanila Congress leader G.K. Vasan said here on Saturday.
Addressing an election rally here, Mr. Vasan claimed that it was widely predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance was going to win more seats in the North in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. This prediction had forced Congress president Mr. Gandhi to search for a safe seat and made him to land in Kerala.
Ridiculing Mr. Gandhi for claiming that Congress would carry out a surgical strike to eradicate poverty, he said the party which was not able to eradicate poverty while in power for more than four decades was now giving such an assurance.
