Rahul Gandhi holds meeting with top Congress Punjab leaders

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has held a meeting with top party leaders of Punjab to discuss the strategy for the state assembly election which would be held in early next year.

In the meeting held on Saturday the Congress vice-president asked the party leaders to build team spirit and work unitedly for the assembly election in the state in early 2017, party sources said today. The meeting was attended by Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh and Congress strategist Prashant Kishor discussed issues on which party's campaign should be based in the state, the sources said.

Rahul Gandhi asked party leaders to celebrate their own legacy and capabilities rather than wasting energies worrying about the Aam Aadmi Party, they said. Capt Amarinder Singh stressed that need to target young voters as did most other leaders. The meeting which lasted for over five hours saw all top leaders like party general secretary for Punjab Shakeel Ahmad, Punjab Congress campaign committee chief Ambika Soni, Sunil Jakhar, CLP leader CS Chani, RS nominees SS Dullo and Partap Singh Bajwa, Indian Youth Congress chief Raja Warring and sitting and ex MPs, give their inputs which Kishor heard.

The leaders highlighted the need for starting an early campaign and hitting ground. Issues like problems of drugs, unemployment, financial mess and agrarian crisis were discussed. This was the first meeting of Kishor with Punjab leaders since he took up the job of advising Congress for Punjab elections. Kishor recently visited Punjab after Kejriwal returned from his tour of the state.