As the Congress girds up its loins for the general elections, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi would undertake a brief visit to this City of lakes on Monday. Rahul is arriving in the State capital to attend a programme 'Samvad' (dialogue), organised by All India Mahila Congress president Shobha Ojha.
Besides taking part in 'Samvad', Rahul will also interact with the party candidates who won and lost the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, sources said.
"From the airport, Gandhi will head to the All India Mahila Congress' Mahila Samvad at Minto Hall. Next on the agenda are three programmes at the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) headquarters," MPCC vice-president Manak Agarwal told mediapersons here on Sunday.
Agarwal further said that Gandhi would interact in turn with MPCC representatives, district Congress chiefs and all the candidates who contested last year's Assembly elections in the State. Newly-appointed MPCC President Arun Yadav and the Assembly's leader of the Opposition Satyadev Katare would constantly accompany Gandhi.
Meanwhile Mahila Congress chief Shobha Ojha said that Gandhi would grace their Samvad at 1400 hrs. "Rahul Gandhi will interact with around 250 women representatives on the issue of social, economic and political empowerment of women. The outcome of the meeting will be incorporated in the Congress manifesto for the 2014 lok Sabha polls," Ojha added.
Senior Congress MlA Mukesh Nayak confirmed that all those who contested in the Assembly polls on a Congress ticket have been asked to be present here on Monday.
"Rahul Gandhi will be interacting with all the leaders. Apart from taking their views on poll preparedness for the general elections in their area, he will also discuss about the possible reasons for their losses in the election," he said.
However, party leaders and workers are of the view that unless Rahul checks the growing factionalism within the party, the future of the Congress in MP was bleak.