Rahul flags off Cong’s poll blitzkrieg today

“The entire state has been divided into 10 zones,covering 40 Assembly segments each. All the senior central and state leaders will visit them. The idea is to hold at least one such meeting in all the Assembly segments,” said Raj Babbar,chief of Publicity Committee,who participated in the meeting held here in this connection.

The meetings will be held at the block level and all senior ministers at the Centre from Uttar Pradesh and state leaders will participate in the campaign,sources said.

A senior leader indicated that the outreach campaign is likely to gain momentum only after the tickets are finalised. “Before the leaders move into a particular segment,the consent of the candidate will be taken,which will then be coordinated with the State Congress Committee and the All-India Congress Committee,” said the leader.

It is expected that the party,following its strategy of announcing its candidates well in advance as compared to the past,may finalise all the seats by this month’s end.

The public outreach programme will continue over the next two months and culminate with Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Lucknow in February.

Among others,the meeting was attended by senior Congress leader and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Digvijay Singh,Election Campaign Committee Chief Sri Prakash Jaiswal,central minister Beni Prasad Verma,state party chief Rita Joshi,state CLP leader Pramod Tiwari and representative from Rahul’s office Abhishek Kulkarni. Pradeep Jain Aditya was also present in the meeting.

There are reports that Rahul may be made working president of the party by November 19,the birth anniversary of his grand-mother.