Rahul Gandhi approves Congress committees for UP, Raj Babbar to chair poll panel

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday announced that it has formed a total of six committees in Uttar Pradesh, and party's state unit chief Raj Babbar will chair the election committee. Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid has been made a part of the election committee as well as the election strategy and planning committee, as per the statement issued by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal.

According to the statement, "Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the proposal regarding the formation of six committees related to Uttar Pradesh: election committee, campaign committee, election strategy and planning committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, as well as media and publicity committee."

Gajraj Singh, a former MLA from Hapur, has been given the chairmanship of the campaign committee and Rashid Alvi the chairmanship of the manifesto committee.

Rajiv Shukla, the former chairman of Indian Premier League, has been made the chairman of media and publicity committee. Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Ajay Kumar Lallu has been given the chairmanship of the coordination committee, the statement said.

Sriprakash Jaiswal, a former Union coal minister, and P L Punia, the Chhattisgarh in-charge for Congress and a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradeh, have been made members of the election committee, it said.