Sheila Dikshit, Raj Babbar, Salman Khurshid in Congress' UP election committee

Various former Union Ministers such as Sriprakash Jaiswal and Salman Khurshid, Congress’ chief ministerial candidate Shiela Diskhit and controversial leader Imran Masood figure in the 36-member state election committee for poll-bound Uttar Pradesh headed by PCC chief Raj Babbar.

AICC announced on Tuesday that Nirmal Khatri, from whom Babbar took over as party chief, will co-chair the Committee that will recommend names of party candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The Committee includes many prominent Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh like CLP leader Pradeep Mathur and party MPs Sanjay Singh and Pramod Tiwari.

“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the Pradesh Election Committee of Uttar Pradesh,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a statement. Masood, who was arrested in 2014 for his hate speech during the Lok Sabha poll campaign in which he threatened “to chop” Narendra Modi “into pieces”, also finds a place in the panel.

He had lost from Saharanpur but was later appointed as one of the four vice presidents of the party in the state.Other members are former Union Ministers R P N Singh and Jitin Prasad, apart from senior Congress leaders Mohsina Kidwai, Ajay Rai and Anu Tandon. State Presidents of Mahila Congress, Youth Congress and NSUI are also a part of the committee.Congress is trying to gain its lost ground in high-stakes election to Uttar Pradesh.