UP Cong rebels ignore bid for peace, plan another rally

LUCKNOW, JULY 11: The Uttar Pradesh Congress's woes are far from over. The party may have formed a coordination committee meeting to help ...

LUCKNOW, JULY 11: The Uttar Pradesh Congress8217;s woes are far from over. The party may have formed a coordination committee meeting to help check groupism in the unit, but the party rebels are refusing to call a truce.

The detractors of UPCC chief Salman Khursheed are now planning another show of strength on the line of their meetings at Jhansi and Lucknow recently. The latest rally will be held at Moradabad on July 15 and once again Salman is not invited.

Coming as it does close on the heels of the formation of a 10-member coordination committee, the Moradabad rally will put a big question mark on efforts to check groupism within the party8217;s state unit. While party leaders are trying to ignore the developments, the rebels are in an ecstatic mood.

8220;This should not be termed as a show of strength, but the rally at Moradabad and the earlier ones have proved who the real mass pullers in the Congress are,8221; boasted a Salman detractor.

Party spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh admitted: 8220;The UPCC has so far received no invitation from the organisers of that rally. But definitely, it is a Congress show.8221; However, he refused to read more into the meeting, saying: 8220;There may be some differences, and this is why a coordination committee has been formed and we hope that it will also look into these reports.8221;

Meanwhile, the nominees of the Congress coordination committee have got letters regarding their new assignment and insist their efforts will pay off. 8220;We hope that things will be better under the supervision of a coordination committee. A collective leadership is always good than an individualistic approach,8221; said Ram Naresh Yadav, a member of the commitee.

Congressmen opposed to Salman are also trying to highlight that the party fared better in constituencies represented by Sonia Gandhi and Satish Sharma in recently held panchayat polls. 8220;It was because of the charisma of Sonia that the Congress fared better in these parts. The party-backed candidates won 49 of the total 90 zila panchayat seats in the two districts of Rae Bareli and Sultanpur. This is a rare achievement but has nothing to do with the overall performance of the party in the state,8221; said a hardcore supporter of Satish Sharma.

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Local leaders of Amethi and Rae Bareli will be meeting Sonia on Thursday where they would apprise her of the performance of the party in the two districts. Sonia is also slated to visit her constituency of August 20 where she will inaugurate a computer centre named after Rajiv Gandhi.