Cong plans two-day convention in UP

The decision was takan at a party meeting in Delhi today,which was chaired by Digvijay Singh,AICC general secretary in charge of UP. Apart from state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari,leaders like Beni Prasad Verma and Saleem Sherwani,who had joined the party before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,were also present at the meeting.

Party sources said AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi may inaugurate the convention,which will set the agenda for the upcoming Assembly elections in UP. Sources said Varanasi was selected as the venue in order to emphasise the party’s focus on eastern UP,although there was a strong view at the meeting that the convention should be held somewhere in central UP — in Lucknow or Sitapur.

Senior party leaders,including Singh,Joshi and Tiwari may visit Varanasi later this week to select the venue. “The location has to be selected for not only the convention but also for the stay of delegates. In order to make preparations,senior party leaders would reach Varanasi on May 4,” said Subodh Srivatava,Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) spokesperson.

Sources in the party said that about 1,500 delegates from UP Congress would attend the convention. Representatives of Congress frontal organisations like Sewa Dal,Mahila Congress as well as Youth Congress would also take part in the programme. “This convention is very significant for us because it would set the agenda for the 2012 Assembly elections in the state. Last time,the Congress president had addressed a state convention in Kanpur on March 31,2008,” said a senior party leader.