Rahul Gandhi to visit poll-bound Meghalaya for 2 days

Shillong: Congress president Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to arrive here on January 30 for a two-day meeting with the party workers and supporters of the poll-bound state, sources in the state unit of the party said today.

Meghalaya is set to go to polls on February 27 and the results will be announced on March 3. The tenure of the current 60-member assembly ends on March 6. “Our party president (Rahul Gandhi) will arrive here on January 30 and address leaders and workers in Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills and the state capital,” Shillong MP Vincent Pala, who is also the working president of Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, told PTI.

He said the AICC president will not address any public rally during this visit. The party is finalising the two-day schedule the Gandhi’s visit to state, Pala said, adding that all leaders and supporters have been invited by the party president for the meeting.

The Congress had faced a major setback earlier this month when five of its MLAs resigned from the assembly and joined the NPP and two other legislators moved to the BJP and the newly formed People’s Democratic Front.

The BJP, on the other hand, has said that it is in the process of finalising the visit of its star campaigners which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi had visited the state last month and addressed a gathering at Polo Grounds here. The rally was attended by thousands of people, including the BJP workers.

It would be a morale booster for the state unit leaders if the Prime Minister addresses rallies in all three regions – Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills – while party president Amit Shah campaigns in at least two places, BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh said.