UP Congress to hold poll strategy meet, Prashant Kishore to attend

Lucknow, March 5  The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress has called a high-level meet of the party leaders on March 10 and poll strategist Prashant Kishore will also attend it, an official said here on Saturday.

The meet, being convened by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Nirmal Khatri, will be attended by district unit presidents, general secretaries, senior functionaries, UP in-charge Madhusudan Mistry, members of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and Prashant Kishore.

Chairman of the UP Congress Communcations Cell Satyadev Tripathi, while informing about the meeting, said the meet's motive is to first deliberate on various issues before the party in the state and to prepare an election strategy for 2017 assembly polls. 

Two days after poll strategist Prashant Kishore met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, he has been officially roped in for reviving the political fortunes of the Congress in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections due early next year. 

Congress, which ruled the state for over 40 years has been relegated to fourth position in the state in past two decades.

Regional parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been ruling the state for the past several years. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the state, winning 71 of the 80 seats. 

Congress managed to retain Amethi and Rae Bareli, the two constituencies held by party vice president Rahul Gandhi and party chief Sonia Gandhi.