RAHUL GANDHI

Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi will visit Himachal Pradesh next week, state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur said Friday. "Rahul Gandhi will visit Shimla next week for a day. During his visit here, he will also interact with students from Himachal Pradesh University," Thakur told IANS. "The date of his visit is yet to be finalised. The tentative date is Oct 15," he said. Sources in the party said the aim of Gandhi's visit to the university was to strengthen the state unit of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), which has been marginalised over the years. Gandhi has been criss-crossing the country in his bid to mobilise youth for the party and its youth wings. Last week he was in Tripura and in Kerala to interact with the young.

Call it ‘Rahul Magic’. More than 13 lakh people have joined the Youth Congress in Tamil Nadu during the recent membership drive that was personally supervised by Rahul Gandhi, says state Youth Congress chief Mayura Jayakumar. With the month-long membership drive, which came to an end last month, evoking overwhelming response, the state Youth Congress unit is all set to hold organisational elections, a move found useful in Punjab and Uttarakhand. Rahul Gandhi, party General Secretary in-charge of Youth Congress, is taking keen interest in attracting youth to the party in the politically-crucial southern state, where the party has been out of power for the past four decades. Mr. Jayakumar says the unit could achieve the 13 lakh figure due to the support received from Rahul and keen interest he took in the membership drive. “Two years back when we conducted the last membership drive around 10 lakh people had enrolled themselves. This time, the number is more than 13 lakh. This time, the p