Ranchi, Oct 14 : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi started his two-day Jharkhand trip Wednesday amid talk that elections to the state assembly might be announced soon, provoking one-time ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to term his visit to the tribal areas a "political stunt".

Gandhi's two-day visit began with an Adivasi Yuva Sammelan (AYS) in Sahebganj. He then proceeded to Dumka district, around 500 km from here. Both Sahebganj and Dumka are tribal-majority districts.

Gandhi also visited Dhanbad and Hazaribagh before reaching Ranchi. With the exception of Sahebganj, all these districts have a sizeable presence of Maoist guerrillas.

On Thursday, Gandhi is scheduled to attend a Dalit convention at Chatra and an AYS in Singhbhum district. They are among the worst Maoist-affected districts in Jharkhand.

The visit comes at a crucial time as elections to the Jharkhand assembly - the state has been under President's Rule since January - are likely to be held by the end of this year. Many believe his visit is aimed at wooing tribals and Dalits of the state who constitute a sizeable chunk of the population.

But the JMM, which was an ally of the Congress till the Lok Sabha election, was unimpressed.

"The visit of Rahul Gandhi in tribal dominated areas is nothing but a political stunt. It has been motivated by the coming elections," said JMM chief Shibu Soren.

"JMM does not consider Rahul's visit a threat to its survival," Soren told reporters in Bokaro.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) agreed.

"Rahul Gandhi's Jharkhand visit is political drama. Rahul is playing vote bank politics by visiting tribal people," said BJP leader Ramesh Puskar.(IANS)