Rahul Gandhi to visit MP on Sept 17

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Madhya Pradesh on September 17 to attend various programmes.

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath gave this information to reporters at a press conference here today.

"Rahul Gandhi will be on a day-long visit to MP on September 17. In Bhopal, he will address a meeting of state-level party leaders," Nath said.

"He will later visit a district, which is yet to be decided, to address a public meeting," the Congress leader added.

Nath, a former Union minister, said in the last week of September Gandhi would formally launch the party's campaign for this year's state Assembly polls, although the programme was yet to be finalised.

He said the party would bring out a 'vachan patra' (a note of promises) instead of the election manifesto.

"We will bring out a 'vachan patra', which is being finalised. We will give promises to the electorate instead of making any announcements," he said.

To a question on the party's distribution of tickets in the upcoming polls, Nath said, "Initially, our focus will be on 80 seats, where the party has not won for a long time. We are getting peoples' survey on these seats and expecting to finalise the names by September 10-12. We will also keep the caste equation in our mind before taking a final decision."