After return from abroad, Rahul to campaign in Maha, Hry

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had been abroad for a few days,has returned home and will campaign for the party in poll-bound Maharashtra and Haryana from October 13.

Gandhi is slated to address poll rallies for the October 21 assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana. He will address the first of these three poll rallies in Maharashtra on Sunday.

He will campaign in favour of Basavaraj Madhavrao Patil in Ausa in Latur district, Naseem Khan in Chandivali in Mumbai suburban and in favour of Varsha Gaikwad in Dharavi, Mumbai.

Gandhi will campaign for the party candidates in Haryana on October 14, where he will address a few poll rallies and then again go to Maharashtra for election campaign.

"Rahul Gandhi will address election meetings in Maharashtra on October 13 and 15 and in Haryana on October 14," the party said.

This is the first time the Gandhi will campaign for the Congress in assembly elections after the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

The former Congress president has faced flak for going abroad ahead of the assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Soon after his return from abroad, he appeared before a magisterial court here and pleaded not guilty in a criminal defamation case filed against him by RSS/BJP workers.

A case was filed against Gandhi for allegedly saying "why all thieves share the Modi surname" during the Lok Sabha poll campaign this year.

He is also scheduled to attend another court hearing in Ahmedabad on Friday in a similar case filed against him by RSS/BJP workers.

The BJP has targeted Gandhi specifically over his foreign visits.

The Congress did not disclose where Gandhi had gone, but defended his visits saying there is a difference between public and private life and private life needs to be respected in politics.