Congress president Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit Patna on May 16 to pep up the Lok Sabha election campaign for Congress nominee from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate from Patliputra, Misa Bharti.

Rahul is also likely to address an election meeting at Sasaram in support of former Lok Sabha speaker and Congress nominee Meira Kumar. However, his tour plan for Sasaram is yet to be finalised.

All these three constituencies will go to polls along with five others in Bihar, in the final phase of the general elections on May 19.

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha said that according to a tentative plan, the Congress president was likely to address a public meeting at Bikram, a township falling under the Patliputra LS seat, and hold a roadshow in the capital city on May 16.

Earlier, it was said that Priyanka Vadra Gandhi was tipped to visit Patna and lead a roadshow in support of Sinha, who recently joined the Congress, after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, her scheduled engagements with the party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh (East) as its AICC in-charge and in Delhi might have compelled the party to drop her Patna visit plan.

Some BPCC leaders said that Rahul had offered to visit Sasaram on the same day, but local leaders requested him to reschedule the programme in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting there on the same day. “AICC is working on Rahul Gandhi’s tour programme for Sasaram and the party would announce it as soon as it’s finalised,” said Jha, saying that the seat was important for Meira Kumar, the first woman speaker of LS, who was pitted against BJP’S sitting MP Chhedi Paswan.

Patna Sahib sitting MP Shatrughan Sinha and Misa Bharti, daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, both face a tough battle. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union minister of state for rural development Ram Kripal Yadav are contesting against Sinha and Misa, respectively.

First Published: May 13, 2019 14:56 IST