Lucknow, Dec 20 (IANS) Undaunted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s repeated complaints to his “unannounced” visits to the state, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was once again undertaking yet another “secret” trip to the state’s most backward Bundelkhand region Monday, party sources said.
Top state officials as well as senior party leaders at the Congress state headquarters here were clueless about the visit.

However, party sources in Jhansi Sunday confirmed Rahul’s plans to visit a village in the neighbourhood of Bundelkhand’s biggest city.

“Even SPG (Special Protection Group) personnel have arrived here to sanitise various places to be visited by the AICC general secretary, but his exact schedule and the itinerary has been kept a closely guarded secret,” a senior local Congress leader told IANS over telephone from Jhansi.

The visit had been organised at the behest of Jhansi MP and union Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Kumar Jain, who has already reached the city.

Earlier this month, the chief minister shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, raising serious objections against the Congress leader’s “undeclared” visits to the state.

In the past when Rahul made forays into the homes of Dalits, Mayawati went to the extent of dismissing these as “a drama”.

She had even termed the young Gandhi scion’s trips on the state’s highways and strolling about in villages sans security and without involving local authorities as “violation of security and protocol”.