After UP, Rahul zeroes in on Operation Maharashtra

After Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is focusing on Maharashtra to strengthen the party organisation. Politically, Maharashtra is a crucial state, with 48 Lok Sabha seats and a 288-member legislative assembly.

Following Gandhi's recommendation, the party has nominated Avinash Pande, a former legislator and staunch supporter of the Gandhi-Nehru family, for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 17.

A senior office-bearer of the party's state unit said on condition of anonymity, "Pande was hand-picked by Rahul as he has been working closely with the latter to rejuvenate the party organisation in Maharashtra."

Pande was defeated by Rahul Bajaj, who was supported by the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha by-polls in 2004. Pande is not the only party leader chosen by Rahul. During the 2009 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the party general secretary played a major role in nominating youths and also campaigned for them. Congress Member of Parliament from south Mumbai, Milind Deora, has been quite close to Rahul.

The members of the 'Rahul Brigade' elected to the state assembly in 2009 include Raju Satav, who has been appointed as the president of the All India Youth Congress, Nilesh Parvekar, Yashomati Thakur, Prashant Thakur and Raosaheb Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil.

Rahul is also supervising the party's membership drive in Maharashtra. Recently, state leaders were pulled up by the Congress high command for the slow pace of membership.

A total of seven candidates are in the fray for the six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra. The list of candidates who have filed their nominations includes Vijay Darda, Avinash Pande (Congress), Tariq Anwar, Ishwar Jain (NCP), Piyush Goyal (BJP), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) and the state Congress party spokesman, Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, who has been proposed by 10 independents supporting the Congress-led government.