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Lenka back in Shimla for party polls

Staff Correspondent

`Sent by Sonia Gandhi to complete poll process'

SHIMLA: A visibly perturbed and nervous senior Congress leader and Congress Election Authority in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, K. C. Lenka, is back and has once again taken the responsibility of finishing the state organisational elections for the party.

Mr. Lenka had rushed to Delhi earlier to meet the party president when he was roughed up by some Congressmen in the presence of State PCC chief Kuldip Kumar and the Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, outside the Congress office last month.

He said he was sent back by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and he would now complete the election process by all means.

Mr. Lenka's `resentment' with the Virbhadra faction and his subsequent complaint to the party president have given a boost to the Vidya Stokes faction. A number of her supporters figure in the revised list of District Returning Officers (DROs) which was announced by Mr. Lenka today.

He said the election of DCC would be held from May 17 to 19, and the DROs would be responsible for conducting free and fair elections. They would submit the election result report to the chairman of Pradesh Election Authority personally before May 20.

On asked why the names of some DROs were removed, Mr. Lenka claimed it was in his authority to do that.

The Central Congress in-charge was surrounded by a number of Congress Seva Dal activists as directed by the party high command, and the venue was also changed from the party office on the Mall Road to the far-off State Guest House at Peter Hoff.

Keeping the last month's unpleasant incidents in mind, the veteran Congressman, also a former PCC president in Orissa, is moving with caution and is in constant touch with the leaders in Delhi, said sources close to him.

Mr. Lenka also condemned a "twisted report" in an English Daily that has tried to create differences between him and Ambika Soni, party in-charge for the hill state.

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Lenka back in Shimla for party polls

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