National
Cong. to step up campaign
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. With a week to go for the first round of polling in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has decided to step up its campaigning in the State. Party president, Sonia Gandhi, will kick off her campaign in the State from tomorrow, with a slew of meetings in Rampur, Bareilly, Moradabad and Shajahanpur. She will shoulder the major burden and has allotted the maximum number of days for campaigning in the State. She will tour for six days and address 20 public meetings.
The party has also decided to rope in its Chief Ministers from Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, is currently busy with the local body elections in his State and will be available for campaigning in the third and final leg of the campaign.
The party is engaged in a desperate battle for survival in the State. Reports reaching the party headquarters suggest that the party needs to mount a more vigorous campaign. With electioneering entering a decisive phase, it has decided rush its men and resources to the State. Apart from the Congress president and Chief Ministers, senior party leaders and those with an appeal among the minorities and other groups have been asked to move to Uttar Pradesh.
Influential minority community leaders such as the Rajya Sabha MPs, Obaidullah Azmi and Maulana Asad Madani, along with their supporters have been roped in. This is in addition to Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khursheed and Akbar Dumpy, who are already in the field.
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