Rahul Gandhi to address tribals at Lanjigarh today

Two days after the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) rejected the Stage-II forest clearance for the bauxite mining project of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), Rahul Gandhi, general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), would visit Lanjigarh, the site of the company's alumina refinery plant on Thursday.

Rahul is set to address a tribal rally at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and interact with the tribals even as the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa has termed his visit as 'politically motivated' and has planned to oppose his visit.

The BJD has announced that it will stage rallies at different places in the state including Bhubaneswar and Jagatsinghpur to oppose what it termed as the Centre's attempt to stall mega investment projects in the state.

The BJP National General Secretary Dharmendra Pradhan, has urged that Rahul Gandhi should spell out his views on the Polavaram project. This project cleared by the Centre, had cast fears of submerging of many tribal villages in the state, sparking stiff protests from the ruling BJD.

According to the State Youth Congress President Pradeep Majhi, Rahul will interact with the tribals and address a public meeting in a bid to keep the tribals away from the Maoists.

He clarified that Rahul's visit is not aimed at gaining any political mileage as the Congress leader has been fighting for the interests of the weaker sections of the society including the tribals.

During his address, Rahul is expected to make it clear that the UPA government would not allow any violation of laws meant to protect the interest of tribals, particularly the primitive tribal groups like Dangaria and Kutia Kandhas, he added.

It may be recalled that Gandhi had visited Lanjigarh area in March 2008. Tight security arrangements have been made in the area for the visit with the deployment of adequate force.