Ranchi: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi started his two-day Jharkhand visit on Wednesday in the tribal-majority district of Sahebganj, amid talk that elections to the state Assembly may be announced soon.
Many of the areas he is visiting are under a strong Naxal influence.
Rahul Gandhi's two-day visit began with him attending an Adivasi Yuva Sammelan (AYS) in Sahebganj. He will then proceed to Dumka district, around 500 km from here. Both Sahebganj and Dumka are tribal-majority districts.
In the afternoon Rahul Gandhi will visit Dhanbad and Hazaribagh districts and will arrive in Ranchi in the evening.
With the exception of Sahebganj, all these districts have a sizeable presence of Maoist guerrillas.
On Thursday, Gandhi will attend a Dalit convention at Chatra and an AYS in Singhbhum district. They are among the worst Maoist-affected districts in Jharkhand. Chatra has been included in the central government's pilot project to fight Maoist guerrillas.
Rahul Gandhi's visit comes at a crucial time as elections to the Jharkhand assembly are likely to be held by the end of this year. Many believe his visit is aimed at wooing tribals and Dalits of the state who constitute a sizeable chunk of the population. Jharkhand has been under president's rule since January.
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