Cong. announces poll panel for UP

New Delhi, Aug. 11: Gearing up for the Assembly polls next year, the Congress on Wednesday constituted its election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes its state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R.P.N. Singh.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved a proposal for the constitution of the Pradesh Election Committee of the UPCC, a statement issued by AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said.

Apart from the 38 members named in the panel, the national presidents or chairpersons of AICC organisations or departments from Uttar Pradesh, the state heads of the party’s frontal organisations, the vice-presidents and general secretaries of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) will be its ex-officio members.

The election committee includes state Congress chief Lallu, CLP leader Aradhana Mona Misra, leaders Mohsina Kidwai, Khurshid, Shukla, Nirmal Khatri, Pramod Tiwari, P.L. Punia, R.P.N Singh and Vivek Bansal.

Former MPs Rajesh Mishra, Rajaram Pal, Rakesh Sachan, Begum Noor Bano, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Harendra Malik, Rashid Alvi, Mohammad Muqeem, Naseemuddin Siddique and the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha candidate from Lucknow, Acharya Pramod Krishnam, are also part of the panel.

All India Congress Committee secretaries Imran Masood, Brijlal Khabri, Sudhanshu Tripathi, B.P. Singh and Jitendra Baghel are also among those included in the panel. Lallu has said the Congress would fight the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls under party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s supervision and make a comeback in the state after three decades.