Panaji:
Grassroots Congress workers, mid-level party politicos from panchayats and legislators have been making a beeline since morning for meetings with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Goa on Thursday.
Mr Gandhi is in Goa to attend a national executive meeting of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and apprise himself with the woes of those affected by the Supreme Court-enforced ban on mining.
One of the panchayat members, who met the party general secretary at a conference centre near Panaji, said that Mr Gandhi was keen on knowing how people living in the mining belt were adapting their lives in the face of the ban.
"He first told us about what the Congress was doing to better the situation in the state. And he has asked us to have patience so that a solution to the mining crisis is found," the Congress-aligned panchayat member said.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Subhash Shirodkar said that after meeting party representatives from the mining belt, Mr Gandhi would address a session of the NSUI.
"It is going to be a private session," he said, adding that no media interaction was on the cards as Mr Gandhi had a busy itinerary.