Raj has invited Congress president Rahul Gandhi but has snubbed the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah from the list.

According to the report, the Gandhis landed by a special flight and will stay at a five-star resort in South Goa.  

Seated in the front row, Gandhi and Gadkari were seen chatting and smiling while watching the grand parade.

Odisha media on Friday was all praise for Rahul Gandhi as he rushed to help a photo journalist, who fell from a strair while taking picture of the Congress president on his visit at the Biju Patnaik Airport.

"I have not heard this speculation," Gandhi said while responding to a query about Varun Gandhi joining Congress in a move to reunite the Gandhi-Nehru family.

"The best thing that happened to me as a politician & human being was the abuse I got from BJP & RSS, it has been the biggest gift they could give me," Gandhi said at an interactive session at 'The Odisha Dialogue' in Bhubaneswar.

The veteran BJP leader representing Indore in the lower house of parliament since 1989 further said that talented people must be given an opportunity to come forward.

He will also meet employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

The Congress will also fight the coming Lok Sabha polls with “full strength”, Gandhi said during his visit to Amethi on Thursday.

Gandhi was addressing a public meeting in Amethi before returning to Delhi at the end of his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency.

The Congress chief will also tour states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days.

Gehlot was made the chief minister of Rajasthan after the party formed government in the state. Venugopal will continue to be party's general secretary in-charge for Karnataka, a statement said.

Gandhi's visit coincided with the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East, the region in which his Amethi constituency falls.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed the Congress and said it is a party controlled by one family.

Amethi and Rae Bareli are the two Lok Sabha seats left out for the Congress by the BSP-SP alliance in the state. Lok Sabha elections 2019 is scheduled to take place in the months of April-May.

During his two-day visit, the Congress chief is expected to take part in several party programmes and a meeting of the district vigilance and monitoring committee, the leader said.  

  The Congress scion's attack comes a day after PM Modi took a jibe at the Opposition rally organised by TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

Jena was expelled from the primary membership of the Congress for anti-party activities by the Odisha unit of the party, along with former Koraput MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria.

The BJP took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over his support to Mamata Banerjee's opposition rally in Kolkata, saying it is natural that he will remember "didi" after "behenji", a reference to BSP supremo Mayawati, abandoned him.

In a Facebook post, the Congress president cited an incident when an Afghan lawmaker had told him that arguments that take place in Indian Parliament, are carried out with guns in that country.