Mumbai, Jun 8 (IANS): In an unprecedented initiative, Congress President Rahul Gandhi will directly interact with the party's booth-level workers in Mumbai on June 12, an official said here on Thursday.

Gandhi is scheduled to come to Thane for a court hearing in a defamation case filed by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, after which he will come to Goregaon here.

Terming it a "great news", Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam announced that the party chief will address workers at the Bombay Exhibition Centre that afternoon.

"More great news... Rahul Gandhi will address a booth level party workers rally in Mumbai... Request all leaders & workers to gear up to make it a huge success," tweeted Nirupam.

He added that there will be at least one representative per polling booth at the rally and urged all partymen to attend it in large numbers, as the preparations get underway for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

This will be Gandhi's first public engagement in Mumbai after taking over as Congress President in December 2017.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, of the six seats in Mumbai, the Congress had bagged five while its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) got one.

However, 2014 proved a major setback for the party's stronghold when the Congress-NCP lost all the city seats to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Nirupam, who had contested from Mumbai North, failed to retain the seat and lost to the BJP candidate by a large margin in 2014.

Meanwhile, in the court hearing, charges are likely to be framed by a Bhiwandi Court, Thane, against Gandhi in the case filed by worker Rajesh Kunte.

In January, the court ordered Gandhi to be present for framing of the charges on April 23, but he was absent. The next date of hearing was June 12.

The defamation case followed Gandhi's utterances at a rally in Thane in March 2014 in which he had accused the RSS of killing Mahatma Gandhi.