Date:12/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/12/stories/2007111259831500.htm

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U.P. Congress panel meet today

Special Correspondent

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to interact with over 1,000 partymen

It is expected to give a direction to party’s strategy
Congressmen hope Rahul’s involvement will help strengthen the State unit

LUCKNOW: With the inaugural meeting of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Coordination Committee being held here on Monday, Congressmen have pinned their hopes on the Amethi Member of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, to infuse life into the moribund organisational structure of the party.

The meeting is expected to give a direction to the party’s strategy in Uttar Pradesh for the next Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Gandhi, who is a member of the 32-member Coordination Committee (10 members were inducted later), is reaching the State capital on Monday to attend the meeting. Apart from attending the meeting, the Congress general secretary will meet 16 delegations during his daylong stay in the Pradesh Congress headquarters.

These delegations have been drawn from sitting MPs and MLAs belonging to U.P., former MPs, MLAs and MLCs, leaders of frontal organisations and party cells.

Optimism

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna-Joshi told newsmen that Mr. Gandhi would interact with about 1,500 partymen from different parts of the State.

She said deliberations would essentially revolve around two vital aspects of organisation and programme.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief expressed the optimism that Mr. Gandhi’s presence, along with the possibility of him getting actively involved in the exercise to strengthen the organisational framework was just the right prescription to revive the party.

Dr. Joshi said the meeting would also deliberate on the status of the Central government’s welfare programmes in Uttar Pradesh, particularly the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Arrangements

All India Congress Committee general secretary and the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, reached Lucknow on Sunday and took stock of the arrangements being made for Monday’s meet.

Mr. Singh, who is the AICC in-charge of Uttar Pradesh affairs, met the UPCC president and other senior leaders.

The Coordination Committee was constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi for better coordination between the different sections of the party.