Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit Kolhapur on October 4 and 5 to inaugurate a life-size statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and will also attend a conference on the Indian Constitution in the city. At a press conference in Kolhapur, Congress MLC Satej Patil said, ''Rahul Gandhi will visit Kolhapur on October 4 and will stay in the city. On the same day, he will unveil the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Kasba Bavda area. We have appealed to people in the district to remain present on the occasion.'' Patil said, ''On October 5, 1,000 artistes dressed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will present a play on the life of the Maratha warrior at Pavilion Ground. It is an effort to take Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's heroiccs to the new generation.'' The Congress MLA added on October 5, Rahul Gandhi will visit the samadhi of Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj. ''He will be attending the Constitution conference the same day. As many as 1,000 prominent personalities have been invited for the conference,'' he said. Top Congress leaders, including former Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde, party's Maharashtra incharge Ramesh Chenithala, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, veteran leader Balasaheb Thorat and Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar will also be in Kolhapur for those two days. This is the second time in a month Rahul Gandhi will be visiting the sugarcane belt of western Maharashtra. On September 5, he had visited Sangli to unveil the statue of Congress stalwart Patangrao Kadam, father of Vishwajeet Kadam.
