First pics: Rahul Gandhi in Phulpur

The choice of venue for Rahul Ganhdhi is strategic - Phulpur, 30 km from the Nehru base of Allahabad, was the constituency from where former prime minister and Rahul Gandhi's great grandfather, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected to Parliament in the first Lok Sabha elections in 1951. And the last time Phulpur voted for a Congress candidate was in 1984.

Rahul Gandhi has been aggressively building up to the Uttar Pradesh polls. The Congress General Secretary has been focussed on UP, often inviting much criticism for it. The 41-year-old has been assiduously working on reviving the party at the grassroots in the state, even as he has kept up a volley of attacks on the Mayawati government.

Mayawati has made it clear that she will target Mr Gandhi during the campaign that is now picking up momentum in UP.

The most prominent of the issues Rahul Gandhi has taken on Mayawati over is land acquisition - an emotive issue with farmers, that saw major unrest in several parts of the state against the administration.

That Mr Gandhi will General the Congress' battle for elections is clear from the many posters welcoming him to Phulpur. His mother, Sonia Gandhi, is noticeably absent from them. Mr Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are on prominent display, leading once again to speculation that the Congress is ready to confer a more expansive role on Mr Gandhi than his current official designation of General Secretary.