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Rahul Gandhi To Meet Farmers Tomorrow Ahead Of Kisan Rally

Rahul Gandhi To Meet Farmers Tomorrow Ahead Of Kisan Rally
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi (C) listens to farmers during his visit to Nangla Bhatana village in Greater Noida, some 80 kms east of New Delhi, on July 5, 2011. Signalling a stepped-up campaign against Uttar Pradesh's Mayawati government, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on July 5 visited Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida and met farmers and their families to motivate all the villagers residing in the villages of Yamuna Expressway to attend the Kisan Mahapanchayat scheduled for July 9 in Aligarh. AFP PHOTO / Prakash SINGH (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)
PRAKASH SINGH via Getty Images
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi (C) listens to farmers during his visit to Nangla Bhatana village in Greater Noida, some 80 kms east of New Delhi, on July 5, 2011. Signalling a stepped-up campaign against Uttar Pradesh's Mayawati government, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on July 5 visited Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida and met farmers and their families to motivate all the villagers residing in the villages of Yamuna Expressway to attend the Kisan Mahapanchayat scheduled for July 9 in Aligarh. AFP PHOTO / Prakash SINGH (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)

Rahul Gandhi, back from his nearly two-month long sabbatical, will hold intensive consultations with farmers tomorrow as he is expected to lead the Congress' charge on the land bill issue against the government with the Kisan rally on Sunday.

The rally is being seen as some sort of a relaunch of Rahul, who is being hailed as a "mature" leader who would restore the party's health after its downturn in Lok Sabha polls.

A senior party functionary said that besides the rally, Rahul will also be speaking in the Lok Sabha and is expected to take on the government after the second part of the Budget session begins on Monday.

Congress President and his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi, who had welcomed him at his residence yesterday, went to meet him again and spent close to two hours there.

With the Sunday rally being the first major public outreach event for the Congress Vice President after his leave, the party is pulling out all stops to galvanise support for the rally.

Top leaders Ahmed Patel, Digvijay Singh and others addressed a meeting of Haryana Congress leaders in North Avenue, while Singh, who is also the convener of the committee to chalk out plans for the rally, brainstormed with AICC secretaries at party headquarters to make the rally a success.

Rahul, who has to speak at the farmers's rally on Sunday, did not attend the meeting. Party spokesperson Anand Sharma, however, said that the Congress Vice President was not expected at the meeting as it was convened by a general secretary of the party for secretaries to work out the rally arrangements.

Indicating that a generational change could happen in the party, Singh told the audience that he, Ahmed Patel and many leaders were made PCC chiefs at very young age of 38 and 33 and "now it is time for the youngsters".

"It is the era of youths. Time for our retirement has come. It is the nature's law. Old leaves ripen and then fall. New leaves then come. Youth is the flavour of the season. The leadership of youths will come and lead the country.

"Our success is in the success of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. All party workers are fighting under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul," Singh said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.