Rahul to meet martyrs' families during his visit to Dehradun on Mar 16

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is scheduled to address a rally here on March 16, will also visit the families of Major Chitresh Bisht and Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal who were killed in Jammu and Kashmir days after the Pulwama terror attack.

He will visit the homes of Major Bisht and Major Dhoundiyal in the city soon after the rally to commiserate with their kin, senior pradesh Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said.

With nationalist feelings running high in Uttarakhand after the Pulwama terror attack and the counter terror offensive carried out by India in the form of an airstrike in Balakot in Pakistan, Rahul's proposed visit to the families of the bravehearts is being seen as a political move with an eye on votes.

Uttarakhand has a large population of serving and retired military personnel with nearly every family having a member in the armed forces.

Bisht had died while defusing a landmine along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir last month, while Dhoundiyal died in an encounter with terrorists in Pulwama on Febuary 18.