Khursheed meets Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 24. The Uttar Pradesh Congress(I) chief, Mr. Salman Khursheed, met Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the party president, today in the backdrop of increasing factionalism in the State unit. While not divulging details of the discussion, Mr. Khursheed charged his detractors of following a ``personal agenda.''

In an informal chat, Mr. Khursheed attributed the escalation of rivalries to the Congress(I)'s organisational elections and said the ``real'' fight was for control of the party organisation. He was being targetted because he was trying to prevent rigging. The last party polls in U.P. had been a ``farce''. Though he did not name Mr. Jitendra Prasada, his chief rival and former UPCC(I) president, the drift of Mr. Khursheed's remarks was clear.

After last Sunday's rally in Jhansi (to which Mr. Khursheed was not invited), Mr. Prasada held a rally today in Lucknow. Mr Rajesh Pilot (Mr. Prasada's colleague in the CWC) attended both the rallies. Mr. Khursheed did not attend either.

Stating that he was willing to make any sacrifice for the party, Mr. Khursheed also pointed out that under his stewardship the Congress(I)'s vote percentage in U.P. had increased from six to 18 in the last Lok Sabha elections and the number of MPs had gone up from zero to 10.

He was launching agitations against the BJP State government on June 2 and 4 in Dala (Sonbhadra district) and Muzzaffarnagar.

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