Sonia Gandhi bans rallies on personal level

Bhopal, Feb 14: Taking a dim view of factionalism in Madhya Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has put a blanket ban on organising rallies at individual level and authorised only the Pradesh Congress Committee and Delhi Congress Committee to organise such rallies.

Ms Gandhi issued directives in this regard to the state incharge Congress General Secretary V Narayanasami, party sources said today.

Ms Gandhi had taken the tough stand to give a signal to maintain unity in view of the byelections to the Lok Sabha in Gwalior and Sidhi and Assembly byelection in Udaypura constituency.

Bickering at the level of senior party functionaries came to the fore with the supporters of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and party MP Jyotiraditya Scindia organising separate rallies in Gwalior and nearby areas recently.

UNI