Rahul embarks on five-day UP tour

AMETHI: More than two months after the Congress' dismal show in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, party MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday embarked on his five-day-long tour of the Amethi and Rae Bareilly Lok Sabha seats.

Rahul, who represents Amethi, started his tour with a worker's meet in Tilohi assembly segment.

Party sources said Tilohi being one of the two assembly seats in Amethi that Congress had lost, the meeting was more of an introspection.

Congress lost this seat by a margin of less than 500 votes. Sources said local office bearers told Rahul that absence of a credible face in the state for the party was the prime reason for the Congress' loss.

The meeting that lasted for over two hours is also understood to have brought to the forefront infightings in the local leadership, with many of block level leaders complaining each other for the party's loss.

Later, Rahul distributed cheques to girl students from the minority community at a function in Jagdishpur.

He also inaugurated a school in Salone village before wrapping up his first day's tour.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who represents the adjoining Lok Sabha seat Rae Bareilly, is also slated to address party workers later this month.