NEW DELHI: U nder pressure to prove a point, the Congress had deployed senior party leaders and elected representatives from the Capital to give a final thrust to the campaign for the crucial Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections. Polling for the four posts will be held on Friday.

Interestingly the party leadership has entrusted the task of handling the entire DUSU campaign to senior AICC leaders Mukul Wasnik and Oscar Fernandes who have been coordinating all the activities for the polls. Both the leaders have been holding regular interactions with the student leaders giving shape to the strategy for the DUSU polls. This apart, a number of Ministers of the Delhi Government, party MLAs and MPs were also asked to get involved with the campaign as the party is desperate to win the elections in order to send the message across that things were well under control.

Apart from Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ram Babu Sharma, Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has also been playing an active part in the DUSU poll campaign due to his youthful image and experience as a student leader. In a change of strategy, Mr. Wasnik is learnt to have asked the local leaders to target students from the Northeast who constitute a huge chunk of voters and could turn the tide in favour of the party candidates.

AICC secretary Sanjay Bapna and Indian Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar have also been coordinating the campaign at various levels. Mr. Fernandes, who is also in charge of the frontal organisations, has been holding regular meetings and late night strategy sessions with the student leaders with senior AICC and Delhi leaders to ensure that the National Students' Union of India candidates fare well in the polls.The task to woo Dalit students had been entrusted to the AICC secretary and Sultanpuri MLA, Jai Kishen. A large number of leaders from Delhi have been holding regular meetings in their constituencies at the instance of the party leadership. "There is a huge chunk students from Poorvanchal in the University and we targeted them and got them organised to work for the NSUI candidates in the DUSU polls,'' Poorvanchal leader and Nasirpur MLA Mahabal Mishra remarked.

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