Congress president Rahul Gandhi will not campaign in Mumbai ahead of the fourth phase of the general elections as speculated earlier, raising questions over the party’s performance in the six Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to polls on April 29.

As per earlier reports, Mr. Gandhi was to hold a road show in all six constituencies in Mumbai on Thursday, and was to proceed to Sinnar in Nashik district and Nandurbar the next day. The programme has now been changed completely, party officials said.

“Mr. Gandhi will hold only one rally on Friday — in Sangamner in Ahmednagar district — to campaign for Congress candidate Bhausaheb Kamble from Shirdi constituency,” a Congress leader said. Sangamner is a stronghold of senior Congress leader and former revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat. Mr. Thorat is also a bitter rival of senior Congressman and leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, whose son Sujay joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and contested the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate.

“We have no idea as to whether Mr. Vikhe-Patil will attend Mr. Gandhi’s rally. We don’t want to focus on internal party issues while the election is under way,” another senior Congress leader said.

Meanwhile, party insiders said the decision to not hold a road show in Mumbai was taken considering the possible traffic congestion it would cause. “Why attract bad publicity and the ire of commuters? The city is already facing problems due to construction work and traffic chaos. A huge road show by Mr. Gandhi could have added to the problems,” the leader said. Besides, he said, Mr. Gandhi has already addressed a rally in Mumbai.