With an eye on 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and in a bid to tackle the internal strife in the local Congress unit, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has planned a two-day visit to Mumbai next week. Gandhi will be here on February 28 and March 1 to address a public rally, hold meetings with senior party leaders and interact with other stakeholders. Sources in the Congress said that the city unit has convened a meeting on February 19 at Mumbai unit's Azad Maidan office for discussing the party chief's schedule in the city.

Local leaders against Nirupam
Gandhi will travel to Dhule on March 1 for addressing a rally. This event is seen as a counter to PM Narendra Modi's public event held in the state last week. Gandhi's visit assumes importance in the wake of calls for removing Sanjay Nirupam from the Mumbai Congress president's post. A group of disgruntled leaders met the party leadership in New Delhi to raise the demand, but the high command has turned it down. The Congress bosses think that removing Nirupam when the party needs to display a show of strength and unity ahead of the polls will set a wrong precedent. Nirupam's detractors have been told to cooperate with the city president for the time being and that Nirupman would have to leave if the party does not do well in Lok Sabha elections.