Congress observers will directly report to Rahul

According to sources,during the meeting — which lasted for 45 minutes — Rahul listened to the experiences of the observers. Each assigned about 40 constituencies,the observers have already visited most of the areas at least once. Rahul asked them to visit each block to find young and honest faces and submit their final reports by the end of February 2011.

The observers — senior party leaders from other states — were appointed in May and asked to study the political situation on the ground. They were also told to recommend not more than three probable candidates for each of the 403 Assembly constituencies in the state. The first review meet in this regard was held on Wednesday.

“He gave us a patient hearing and listened to each of us. The main stress was to complete the findings before March 2011 and ensure that young and honest people with clean records — with as many women as possible — are given the opportunity to contest elections,keeping winnability in mind,” said a observer. He added: “Rahul stressed that the party should start planning for the second phase of the Congress yatras,which have to resume on October 2. He asked for suggestions and told us to ensure that senior leaders are present for the yatras.”

Later in the day,another meeting took place at the AICC,chaired by Digvijay Singh. The observers,10 yatra in-charges and state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi participated in the meet. The meeting focussed on the preparations for the second phase of yatras,which are scheduled to begin on

October 2 and conclude on November 10 in a grand rally to be addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Allahabad.

On Thursday,the newly-elected body of Youth Congress in the Central Zone of Uttar Pradesh has been called to Delhi for a meeting with Rahul. The body was constituted after elections on July 30. Tarun Patel was elected the Central Zone president along with nine members of the zonal committee.