Congress forms election, manifesto panels in Uttar Pradesh  

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar will head the partys election committee in the state for the Lok Sabha polls while the party also set up its campaign committee, election strategy and planning committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee and media and publicity committee as part of its poll preparations.

The election committee includes former union ministers Salman Khurshid, R.P.N Singh and Sriprakash Jaiswal and sitting MPs Sanjay Singh and P.L. Punia besides several former ministers and former legislators.

The campaign committee is headed by Gajraj Singh, manifesto committee by Rashid Alvi, media and publicity committee by Rajiv Shukla, coordination committee by Congress Legislative Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu and election strategy and planning committee by Khurshid.

The decisions have been approved by party chief Rahul Gandhi.

Not a part of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the state, Congress is fighting the polls alone but has kept the doors open for alliances with smaller parties.

Rahul Gandhi had last month appointed his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and general secretary incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh and party MP Jyotiraditya Scindia as that of Western Uttar Pradesh to galvanise party's poll preparations in the state that sends 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.

In another decision, the party appointed T.S. Singh Deo as temporary incharge of Odisha. A party release said that former Union minister Jitendra Singh will continue to be incharge of the state.