Rahul to chair Congress Coordination Committee meet tomorrow

Allahabad, Aug 27 (UNI) Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will chair the third coordination committee meeting of the Uttar Pradesh Congress here tomorrow to discuss the coming Lok Sabha elections in the changed political scenario.

The coordination committee, the highest decision making body of the party in the state, will discuss for the first time the pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the name of candidates and the number of seats to be contested in the LS polls.

After the meeting, Mr Gandhi would launch the party's Lok Sabha election campaign in the state in his first-ever public rally to be addressed at the K P College ground here.

The 34-member coordination committee, comprising all MPs, AICC office bearers, ex-state presidents and eight regional coordinators, will meet at the historic Swaraj Bhawan to discuss the political agenda before them.

''The coordination committee will discuss the party's seat-sharing arrangement with the Samajwadi Party in the state, besides holding a discussion on the possible candidates for the Lok Sabha polls,'' State Congress Committee president Reeta Bahuguna Joshi said.

Several senior leaders of the party, including state in-charge Digvijay Singh, state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, national secretary Praveen Rashtrapal, and other leaders will attend the coordination committee meeting.

Political dispute between the Congress and the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, meanwhile, reached its peak when Ms Joshi alleged that the state government was creating hurdles to obstruct the public meeting of Mr Gandhi.

She charged that the Allahabad district authorities had denied permission to hold the public meeting at the historic P D Tandon Park without giving any reason.

This would be the third coordination committee meeting of the state Congress with the first being held at Lucknow in November, the second at Jhansi in January.

At Jhansi, Mr Gandhi had also addressed a public meeting criticising the Mayawati government for backwardness of the Bundelkhand region with raking up the drought issue and supporting the creation of a seperate Bundelkhand state.

UNI MB SB SW RAI1214