Date:21/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/21/stories/2008032157650400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Rahul Gandhi’s tour from March 25

Special Correspondent

He will inspect works and interact with farmers and Dalits

Bangalore: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, MP, will begin a Statewide tour from March 25.

KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, AIYC president Ashok Tanwar and AICC secretary in-charge of Youth Congress Meenakshi Natarajan told presspersons here on Thursday that Mr. Gandhi would also interact with farmers and Dalits during his five-day tour.

On arrival in Bangalore on March 25, Mr. Gandhi will go to Chamarajanagar by road and Heggadadevanakote by helicopter. The Congress leader would address a public meeting in Mangalore and will interact with people from different spheres.

From there, he will go Hubli-Dharwad by helicopter.

The next day, he will visit Gadag, Alamatti, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Raichur and return to Bangalore and participate in a public meeting. In Raichur district, he will inspect tank rejuvenation and desilting works and discuss with farmers their problems. To avoid traffic jams and congestion on Bangalore roads, Mr. Kharge said the public meeting on March 29 would be organised near the new international airport on Bellary Road. Mr. Gandhi will take a flight for New Delhi the same day.

Mr. Tanwar said that the tour was not the beginning of the campaign for the Assembly elections, but was long organised to strengthen the cadres and enlisting the support of the youths to the Congress, which was the most democratic party in the country.

Krishna Byre Gowda, president, Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee, said that more than six lakh youth had been enrolled as members in the last couple of months when the membership drive was launched as directed by Mr. Gandhi.