Rahul Gandhi sole hope of Congress in Uttar Pradesh

The Congress party is planning a high-decibel onslaught into Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the Assembly election due in six months from now. Predictably, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi would lead the campaign while all ministers and MPs from UP would start criss-crossing the state as part immediately after Dussehra, say party sources.

The blue print of this campaign was worked out at a meeting of top party leaders, including those from UP, in New Delhi last week. UP Congress leaders are excited about the party's electoral prospects going into an upwards spiral once Rahul devotes maximum time to the campaign here. “The most important thing is that Rahul will stay in UP most of the time once this campaign starts,” said a senior party leader who was part of the meeting. conclave.

It has also been decided that Rahul would try and cover the maximum number of constituencies. This is a major change in the Congress strategy as compared to the 2007 polls  when Rahul concentrated only on the winnable seats,  the sources said.

Top central leaders, ministers and MPs would reportedly begin their campaign from Purvanchal (eastern UP), which accounts for the largest chunk of assembly seats in the state, and the backward and famine-stricken Bundelkhand (southern UP), which Rahul has been nurturing for quite some time now.

Also, sources say many senior party leaders, holding important posts in the organisation, would be given election tickets this time.