While the final itinerary is yet to be worked out, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi may visit the family members of Inspector Francis Induwar, who was recently abducted and beheaded by Maoists in Ranchi, during his two-day visit to Jharkhand. Rahul is leaving for the state on Wednesday.

Congress leaders said the schedule so far doesn’t include a meeting with the family, but sources claimed “nothing can be ruled out completely”. AICC general secretary in charge of Jharkhand K Keshava Rao is, however, likely to meet them.

If Rahul does meet Induwar’s wife and children, it will send a strong political message in the poll-bound state and elsewhere at a time that the UPA government is preparing to launch a crackdown against Naxalites.

Addressing a press conference in Kerala a day after Induwar’s body was found, Rahul had attributed the spread of Naxalism to the inability of states to reach out to people and lack of development. Two days later, the Congress had displayed a tilt in its Maoist stance, more in line with Rahul’s views, talking of decoupling the law and order aspect of the problem from the socio-economic aspects involved. Until then, the Congress had bracketed both the aspects, with party president Sonia Gandhi maintaining that Naxalites were “misguided youths”.

His trip being in connection with the Youth Congress’s membership drive, Rahul will hold several interactions with Dalits and Adivasis.

‘Can’t think of Jinnah for even a second... he’s gone’

Shimla: ON A day-long tour of Himachal Pradesh, where he interacted with university students on campus, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi accused the Opposition of having little to talk about but focusing on his trips to villages. As for himself, Rahul said he wanted to rebuild the Congress keeping the “aam aadmi” in mind and didn’t think of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, for instance, for a second.

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