(EDs: Updating with Rahul's itinerary) Lucknow, Jan 14 (PTI) After leading from the front in theGujarat Assembly polls that saw his party improving its show,Congress president Rahul Gandhi is now focusing on UttarPradesh to galvanise party cadres in the run up to the 2019Lok Sabha elections.
First time after donning the mantle of the party chief,Gandhi is all set to pay a two-day visit to his Lok Sabhaconstituency Amethi from tomorrow.
Though party workers are excited by his anointment andhave planned a grand reception in Amethi, they are aware thatthe path for their young leader will not be easy in UttarPradesh where its electoral foray in the assembly polls hadbeen anything but encouraging.
The 47-year-old Congress leader is likely to hold roadshows at nearly seven places in Amethi.
He will reach Salon via Rae Bareli at around 12.30 pm andaddress the public at Salon Nagar Panchayat. From Salon, hewill proceed to Amethi, and then go to Munshiganj guest house,according to senior UP Congress leader Akhilesh Singh.
On January 16, at around 10.30 am, Rahul is likely tointeract with the public at Musafirkhana, and then proceed toJais, Jagdishpur and Mohanganj.
"People of Amethi are quite excited about the visit ofRahul Gandhi. This is the first Amethi visit of Rahul Gandhiafter he became the Congress president. People are lookingforward to welcome him," Singh said.
Congress spokesman Amar Nath told PTI that the new partypresident knows the state well.
"He has a personal rapport with party leaders and workersin Uttar Pradesh... we are ready to work hard with him in thefield," he said.
"The Congress will definitely work out ways and means togalvanise the party in Uttar Pradesh in order to make a bigimpact in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he added.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly has 403 seats.
In the last assembly elections, the Congress managed towin just seven seats, its lowest ever in the state.
But what came as a bigger shock was its dismal show inAmethi and Rae Bareli, which had long been nurtured by theGandhi family.
The Modi wave stormed into Amethi and Rae Bareli, andCongress was routed in eight of the 10 Assembly seats there.
The BJP won six seats in Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi'sparliamentary constituencies with two seats going to theSamajwadi Party.
In a major embarrassment to the senior leadership of theparty, the Congress could manage victory in only two of the 10prestigious seats.
The party lost all five seats in Amethi, and barely savedface by winning in just two of the five seats in SoniaGandhi's Rae Bareli constituency. PTI SAB NAV SMIDV.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.