Mumbai:
With ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) surging ahead of the Congress in the recent local body elections in Maharashtra, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's one-day visit to Mumbai today is being seen as a move to get the state unit in pro-active mode and retrieve lost ground.
Rahul's schedule includes meetings with elected representatives from the local bodies and office-bearers of block, district and state units.
This is the first time the youth leader will be participating in a political stock-taking exercise in the state, where Congress is in power, along with Sharad Pawar's NCP, since 1999 but is steadily losing ground to its ally.
He had visited Mumbai two years ago for a Youth Congress enrollment drive and interacted with college students. Rahul had also undertaken a surprise ride in a Mumbai local train.
Party sources said that Mr Gandhi, apart from participating in a meeting of Youth Congress and NSUI office-bearers, will hold discussions with the block and district unit Presidents from across Maharashtra at Tilak Bhavan.
Organisational issues, including party programmes, will dominate the deliberations, they said.
All party representatives elected in the recent local body elections have been invited at Indian Gymkhana in Matunga, Central Mumbai.
"In this meeting, Rahulji will have an interaction regarding developmental issues and local problems," the sources said and said that Congress legislators and Ministers had also been invited for it.