Bhubaneswar, Aug. 12: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be in the state on a two-day visit next month to strengthen the party organisation.

Talking to newspersons here after the first meeting of recently constituted executive committee, state Congress president Prasad Harichandan said: "The dates and venues are yet to be finalised."

Talking about key decisions taken at today's meeting, he said that one Lok Sabha constituency would be assigned to one general secretary, who will be assisted by three secretaries, to strengthen the party's network at the grassroots level. Each Lok Sabha constituency has seven Assembly segments.

The effort would be to strengthen the party at polling booth levels, he said. The state has 32,000 polling booths.

Harichandan, however, has come under criticism for selecting a jumbo-sized executive. The party has appointed 25 general secretaries, five political secretaries, 55 secretaries and 37 organising secretaries and 10 vice-presidents. By assigning all his team members to work at the grassroots level, Harichandan hopes to improve the party's dwindling support base. It had been facing humiliating defeats since the 2000 general elections, both in the Lok Sabha and the Assembly.

Responding to the criticism of creating a jumbo team, Harichandan said: "Earlier the Pradesh Congress Committees had 160 to 220 members and even now the state units in some states have up to 400 to 500 members."

In reference to Harichandan's jumbo executive committee, former state Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik had recently quipped: "Too many cooks spoil the broth."

Unfazed by such remarks, Harichandan said: "The party will take up membership drive in a campaign mode. No target has been set to mobilise members. We will focus on genuine membership."

He said that a road map has been prepared on the basis of views and feedback from today's meeting that adopted political and organisational resolutions.

The political resolution highlighted the failures of the Naveen Patnaik government to handle burning issues, including the recent police excess at Kendrapara.

The party will highlight these issues in the Assembly session scheduled to begin from August 18.

Outside the House, it will hold demonstrations to make the people aware about the issues.