Rahul Gandhi arriving on February 18

Rahul Gandhi will pay a two-day visit to Odisha on February 18-19, his first to the state after being elevated as the Congress party’s vice-president, a party leader said in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik said Rahul would visit Sambalpur on February 18 where he will interact with district leaders for the entire day. He will make night halt at Sambalpur and leave for Cuttack next day.

Patnaik said Rahul will have a meeting with office-bearers of 33 district organisations of the party at Cuttack on February 19 before leaving for Delhi the same day.

The OPCC president had left for New Delhi on Monday to finalise Rahul’s programme for the State. He will return on Tuesday.This will be Rahul’s first visit to the State after he was made party vice-president.

The Congress is out of power in the state since 2000. In recent months, it has intensified organisational and political activities across the state in an effort to stage a comeback.