By IANS,
Ahmedabad : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be on a three-day visit to Gujarat from Feb 12 in connection with the ongoing Youth Congress membership drive and poll preparations, party leaders said Tuesday.
On the first day, Gandhi will visit Porbandar, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi and pay homage to the Father of the Nation, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief Siddharth Patel told reporters here.
Later he will interact with fishermen at the state library and hear their problems, Patel said. “Despite tall claims by the state government, the fishermen’s problems still linger,” he added.
From Porbandar, Gandhi will go to Junagadh where he will visit the Somnath temple and then proceed to Amreli and meet the youth there at the Nutan School ground, Patel said adding that later he will leave for Bhavnagar.
“The youths comprise 65 per cent of the population and Gandhi is keen to listen to their problems,” said Vijay Inder Singla of the Youth Congress.
On the second day, Gandhi will visit Vadodara and interact with students of MS University at the campus. He will then leave for Anand, the birth place of Sardar Patel and then proceed to Panchmahal where he will oversee the membership drive being undertaken there by the Youth Congress activists.
After this, he will go to Dahod and witness an archery show by local sportsmen, Singla said.
On the final day, the Congress general secretary will visit Sardar Sarovar dam in Narmada district where he will interact with the scheduled tribes youth at Ashram Shala Moskut village. Then he will go to Surat to meet diamond workers and hear their grievances at Sardar Smruti Hall.
Gandhi will also visit the homes of diamond workers, Patel said. He is also expected to address the media later in the afternoon.
To a question why Gandhi is so keen about Gujarat, Yashomati Thakur, general secretary of the Youth Congress said that after Punjab, Gujarat is staging the YC poll.
“Rahul is focusing on Hindustan and is not limited to Gujarat,” she said.
On the first day of membership drive, some 2,000 applications were received from the city, Singla said.