Cong deliberates on way ahead in poll-bound UP

Buoyed by the success of its Varanasi roadshow, Congress on Tuesday deliberated on the way ahead in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The coordination committee of the party met in New Delhi in which party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rajiv Shulka, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and state leader Pramod Tiwari were present.

The meeting comes at a time when Congress is making all-out efforts to become a relevant force in Uttar Pradesh where it has been out of power for nearly three decades.

Taking the battle to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turf, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on August 2 launched her party's campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election with a massive roadshow in Varanasi.

Thousands of Congress supporters and workers took part in the roadshow from the Circuit House to Englishiya Line, a distance of about eight kilometres.

The march began with Gandhi garlanding the statue of B R Ambedkar at the Circuit House. The marchers criss-crossed lanes and bylanes of the temple town.

But she had to cut short the programme due to ill health.