CHENNAI: Putting to rest speculations, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is all set to finally arrive in Chennai on Saturday, April 18, to campaign for the party's candidates in the State, but no meeting is on the cards with Tamil Nadu's alliance leader, MK Stalin.
The Congress leader is arriving on a private flight from Delhi as part of a one-day campaign blitz for the Assembly elections. According to his itinerary, Gandhi will take off from Delhi at 8.30 am and land at Chennai's old airport at 11.10 am. From there, he will board a helicopter at 11.30 am and head to Ponneri in Tiruvallur district, where he will address a campaign rally and support Congress candidate Duraichandrasekar.
He will then fly by helicopter to the Sholingur Assembly constituency in Ranipet district to campaign for party candidate Muni Rathinam.
After concluding his events in Ranipet, Gandhi will return to Chennai's old airport by helicopter at 2:30 pm. He will then take a private flight at 3:00 pm to Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), where he will campaign for M Lenin Prasad, the Congress candidate in the Thuraiyur constituency.
Gandhi is scheduled to return to Trichy airport and depart for Delhi at 5.40 PM, arriving in Delhi at 8.20 PM.
Rahul Gandhi's security officials, who arrived from Delhi, held a special coordination meeting at the Chennai airport on Thursday, signalling the leader's arrival.
Meanwhile, sources indicate that Rahul is unlikely to meet Chief Minister MK Stalin during his visit. Stalin is scheduled to leave Chennai for Madurai on a private flight on Friday afternoon for campaign events, and will return to Chennai from Coimbatore late Saturday night. With their travel schedules set on opposite timings, a meeting between the two leaders appears unlikely.