Rahul undertakes first visit of UP after poll debacle

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday arrived on a three-day visit of his Parliamentary constituency Amethi, the first after his party's dismal show in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

The Congress general secretary will meet party workers and review the party's performance during his visit.

"During the visit to the constituency, Rahul will be meeting party workers and review the party's performance. Why the party lost and the reasons behind it will be reviewed," Congress state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters.

She said victory and defeat are part of the election process but the focus of the party was to strengthen the organisation and as of now it was focusing on local bodies polls, likely to be held later this year.

Asked about the preparations for the 2014 general elections, Joshi said there was a lot of time for that but the present focus was on local bodies polls.

"With BSP not contesting local bodies polls and SP having little presence, Congress will try to perform well," she said.

Earlier Rahul arrived at the Chowdhury Charan Singh Airport here and immediately left for his constituency by road amidst slogan shouting by enthusiastic party workers.

During his visit, Rahul will be meeting party workers of Tiloi constituency at Ramjanki Bajpai Balika Vidyalaya, Samrauta and later meet workes of Salon constituency at Nimisha convent school in Salon today.

Gandhi will on Tuesday meet Amethi constituency workers at Munshiganj guest house and workers of Gauriganj at Rajiv Gandhi Science College.

On the last day of his visit, Gandhi will review party's performance with Jagdishpur constituency workers and later leave for New Delhi.

This is Rahul's first visit to the constituency after his party's dismal show in the assembly elections in which he had led the campaign from the front, criss-crossing the state and addressing hundreds of election meetings.

The party had also fared poorly in their bastions Amethi and Rae Bareli.