Rahul Gandhi, ‘urgently required’ in Wayanad, abruptly halts Yatra in Varanasi. Here's what happened

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi abruptly halted his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Saturday in Varanasi and left for his Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said that the former party president's presence was “required urgently” in Wayanad. Ramesh said the yatra will resume on Sunday in Prayagraj.

“Rahul Gandhi’s presence is required urgently in Wayanad. He is leaving this evening from Varanasi at 5PM. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will resume at 3PM tomorrow, February 18th, at Prayagraj,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, the second phase of Congress's nationwide outreach programme, entered Varanasi on the second day of its Uttar Pradesh leg. Gandhi, along with the party's state president Ajay Rai and other congress leaders, toured the temple town and visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Rahul Gandhi's visit to Wayanad comes a day after a man, who was seriously injured in another wild elephant attack on Friday morning, died at the Kozhikode medical college. The victim, Paul, was an eco-tourism guide of the forest department and was stationed at Kuruva Island, a protected river delta on the Kabini River which is a well-known tourist destination.

Last week, Aji (42) was trampled to death by an elephant in the Mananthavady area of the district triggering massive protests in Wayanad.

With three people having been killed in wild jumbo attacks in the last 17 days, a district-wide hartal was called in Wayanad on Saturday to seek permanent solutions to the man-animal conflicts in the region. Shops and business establishments remained closed while vehicles were kept off the roads across the district.

The hartal called by the ruling LDF, opposition UDF and BJP turned violent in Pulpally, with protesters damaging a forest department vehicle and tying atop it a cow that was killed in a suspected tiger attack earlier in the day.