Rahul’s UP tonic for poll-bound TN

Jul 19, 2010 - K.S. JAYASEELAN |

New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi whose game plan is to strengthen the Congress in the four states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu seems to have got into the act. The reason for this special concern for these four states is that they together contribute around 200 seats Lok Sabha seats. Now that Assembly elections are round the corner for Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the young scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, has started meeting the youth congress leaders of these four states.
To begin with, he started exchanging views with the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress leaders.
The past week witnessed a flurry of activity in the capital with Mr Rahul Gandhi holding parleys on a daily basis.
He met Dr Vishnu Prasad, DrGayatri, Arul Anbarasu and Rajkumar — all MLAs — on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Youth Congress office-bearers, under the leadership of Yuvaraja, called on Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Gandhi also separately met Karthik Chidambaram, the son of the Union ome minister P. Chidambaram. And on Thursday, he met Vidiyal Sekar and Ramprabhu both MLAs. Purushottam a Congress functionary from the Kanchipuram district too called on the Amethi MP. He elicited their views on the current political situation in Tamil Nadu and discussed the methodology to strengthen the party in the state.
The strategy to be adopted by the Congress in the forth-coming Assembly polls also figured prominently in his discussion with them. According to sources, they had asked Mr Gandhi to visit Tamil Nadu as often as he could and more importantly visit the homes of dalits in the rural areas. This was a strategy employed by the Congress general secretary successfully in UP and Bihar.
It is learnt from reliable sources that the delegations that called on Mr Gandhi are of the view that the Congress should bargain very hard with its alliance partners for the impending Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. It well-known that the arch-rivals, DMK and AIADMK, are vying with each other to clinch the alliance with the congress.

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