AHMEDABAD: The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday refused to ascribe any significance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to trouble-torn Manipur scheduled for the next day.

"There is an issue in Manipur for a long time. It is okay he (PM Modi) is now going to Manipur, but the main issue in the country remains the theft of votes," Congress leader Gandhi told media persons at Keshod airport after landing in Gujarat. "Elections were stolen in Haryana, Maharashtra, we have shown in Karnataka. Everywhere people are saying 'vote chore' (vote thieves)."

Gandhi was on a one-day visit to Gujarat to address the newly appointed district presidents of the state Congress as part of the initiative to restructure the party from the grassroots level. The district presidents are attending a ten-day training programme at Junagadh. Sources in Congress told ET that during Gandhis's four-hour long interactive session with the district presidents, apart from GPCC President Amit Chavda, Gujarat LoP Tushar Chaudhary and Lalji Desai, no other senior state leaders were present.

Pointing out that the people of India are keenly watching the experiment in Gujarat, Rahul has reportedly asked the presidents to set examples during their tenure. This was Gandhi's fifth visit to Gujarat in the past six months, signifying the Congress' seriousness about the state where it has been out of power for almost three decades.

It is expected that some of the newly-appointed district and city presidents may soon be replaced by the party.