Barely a week after the rank and file of the Maharashtra and Mumbai Congress expressed a strong determination to fight the upcoming local self-government elections solo, the party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi has given a go-ahead to the decision and accepted an invitation to visit the state to conduct rallies.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole and party’s Maharashtra in-charge national general secretary HK Patil met Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday. Various organisational and political issues were discussed in the 90-minute deliberation, said Patole after the meeting.