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Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay to attend August 28 meet

Allahabad: The Congress leadership will assemble here on August 28 for the third meeting of its coordination committee for Uttar Pradesh even as the party’s state unit on Sunday gave clear indications of a possible tie-up with Samajwadi Party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

“The party’s general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh and all MPs and MLAs of the party from the State will be attending the meeting which will be followed by a public meeting, the first in the city to be addressed by the Amethi MP,” UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters here.

She said the meeting, which was originally scheduled for April but got delayed due to “political engagements at the national level,” would chalk out the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections “which we are likely to fight along with Samajwadi Party as it has now come out in support of the UPA”.

Asserting that a final decision regarding the tie-up had to be taken by the high command, the UPCC chief said, “The party has a unique ideology and under ideal circumstances, we would have liked to go it alone. But at present we have to counter the BJP, which is clandestinely being helped in its communal agenda by the state’s ruling BSP.”

Ms. Joshi said that the party would continue to oppose the policy of land acquisition adopted by the Mayawati government, as a part of which “land was being snatched away from farmers in exchange for meagre compensation and thereafter sold to private developers at throwaway prices.”

She also demanded adequate compensation be given to farmers recently killed in police firing in Greater Noida, saying, “This is the difference between the Congress, which has waived loans worth over Rs 70,000 crore to farmers, and the BSP.” PTI

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