Rahul likely to visit Maharashtra later this month

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will resume his countrywide tour towards the end of this month, and his first stop is expected to be the drought-hit areas of Maharashtra.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will resume his countrywide tour towards the end of this month, his first stop expected to be the drought-hit areas of Maharashtra.

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Gandhi, who kicked off the tour in March this year with a visit to Orissa, will go to areas in the Vidarbha region, which has been in news for farmers' suicides.

Party sources said that the AICC General Secretary will focus on farmers during his visit to the state.

The visit assumes significance in the wake of the alterations in the farm loan waiver scheme, in line with the suggestions made by Gandhi to enhance the area limit to avail of the concession.

It was being said that the scheme would not benefit the farmers in Vidarbha, who have larger land holdings, but have been reeling under drought-like conditions and lack of irrigation facilities.

Bihar, Jharkhand and the Northeastern states are also among the places that Gandhi would be visiting shortly, the sources said.

He is expected to visit some areas in Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh also.

Gandhi last visited Karnataka prior to the Assembly polls in the state.

In April, he toured the tribal-dominated states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, apparently with an eye on the Assembly elections to be held there later this year.

The countrywide tour, that was earlier projected as an effort to connect with the youth and attract them towards the Congress, has undergone a shift to focus more on tribal communities.