Rahul Gandhi to visit poll-bound Madhya Pradesh Saturday

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be on a day-long tour of Madhya Pradesh Saturday, during which he will attend an event organised by a tribal organisation and also address a public meeting.

Gandhi will tour Morena and Jabalpur in what will be his third visit to the poll-bound state in less than 20 days.

He will arrive at Gwalior in the morning by a special plane and later, leave for Morena in a helicopter. He will address a meeting of the Adivasi Ekta Parishad at the Ambedkar Stadium in Morena, a party spokesman said Friday.

A large number of people under the banner of the Adivasi Ekta Parishad have embarked on a foot march from Gwalior on October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti), seeking land rights for tribals and farmers. The march will conclude in New Delhi.

"We have embarked on a foot march from Gwalior on October 2 for Delhi. The Congress president will arrive at Morena tomorrow to listen to our problems and to tell us how these problems will be solved in the event of his party coming to power at the Centre," Adivasi Ekta Parishad's national convener P V Rajgopal said.

"This is the Ekta Parishad's third yatra from Gwalior to Delhi," he added.

Rajgopal said the parishad had sent an invitation to the Congress as it is the main opposition party. Gandhi accepted the invitation and is coming to address the agitators.

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath and the party's state-level poll campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia will be present on the occasion among others.

After this, Gandhi will go to Jabalpur, perform "Narmada puja" at the Gwari Ghat and embark on a roadshow from the Bandria Tiraha (tri-section) to the Abdul Hameed Tiraha, the spokesman said.

Congressmen have put up posters, banners and set up nearly 100 temporary stages on both sides of the eight-km-long roadshow route.

Gandhi will also address a public meeting at the Raddi Chowk in the city, the spokesman added.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of the Congress chief's visit.

Gandhi had earlier visited Bhopal and Rewa-Satna in the Vindhya region. Morena and Jabalpur fall in the Chambal and Mahakaushal regions respectively.

The Assembly polls in the state, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power since 2003, are due by the year-end.