Rahul Gandhi on two-day visit to Kerala

Thrissur, Mar 13 (UNI/IBNS) Congress president Rahul Gandhi arrived here tonight on a two days hectic visit during which he will formally launch the partys poll campaign in Kozhikode on Thursday and will address a huge rally of workers at the beach.

Gandhi arrived from Thiruvanthapuram after addressing a rally in Nagercoil and Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Although he has no official programmes in Thrissur, he met several senior party leaders in Ramanilayam where he will be spending the night. He is accompanied by Mukul Wasnik, Secretary in charge of Kerala.

The Congress chief would attend a series of programmes on March 14, beginning with the fishermens parliament at Triprayar in Thrissur. Later, he would fly to Kannur, where he would meet the family of slain Youth Congress leader Shuhaib at the airport there.

He would leave for Kasargod and meet the families of Kripesh and Sarathlal, the youth congress activists, who were allegedly killed by the CPI(M) recently.

Gandhi would then leave for Kozhikode, where he would attend the Janamaha rally, in which thousands of party workers from six north Kerala districts are expected to participate.

Though he was earlier scheduled to visit the house of slain CRPF jawan V V Vasanathakumar in Wayanad, there are media reports that it is unlikely to happen as the security agencies are yet to give clearance owing to Maoist threat.

He is also expected to hold discussions with senior party leaders on the selection procedure of candidates, poll preparations and strategy as the crucial Lok Sabha polls is just 40 days away in the state. Though the Congress is yet to finalise and announce its nominees, Gandhis visit is expected to rejuvenate the workers in Kerala, one of the states where the party is pinning its hopes high.