World | India
Rahul to play key role in Congress poll campaign
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will play a key role in his party's campaign in the forthcoming general elections.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 23:44 August 28, 2008
New Delhi: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will play a key role in his party's campaign in the forthcoming general elections.
He set the campaign management task rolling yesterday by heading a coordination committee meeting of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit in Allahabad.
The 34-member committee was formed by Digvijay Singh, the party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday to oversee poll preparations in the state.
Besides Rahul and Singh, all party MPs from the state, the state unit chief and all former state unit presidents and regional coordinators are members of the committee.
Later in the evening, Rahul kickstarted the party's campaign for the Lok Sabha polls by addressing a rally in the city. Allahabad holds a special place for the Nehru-Gandhi family since Motilal Nehru, the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and Rahul's great grandfather, belonged to the city.
The Congress party was initially preparing to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state. But the party may now have to come to terms with the reality of contesting not more than 30 seats after it entered into an alliance with the regional Samajwadi Party, whose crucial support helped the Congress-led ruling coalition sail past a trust vote in Parliament.
According to sources, the coordination committee will shortlist prospective candidates.
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