Rahul Gandhi to meet Congress office bearers to chalk out strategy for 2019 Lok Sabha election

After general secretaries, Rahul will meet the state party chiefs on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of party general secretaries and office bearers on Thursday to chalk out the roadmap and strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

The meeting will also be attended by newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.

The Congress president will later meet the state party chiefs on Sunday.

Priyanka Gandhi, who has been recently appointed as general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (East), met brother Rahul Gandhi after her return to India on Monday. 

Besides the Gandhis, the meeting was also attended by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been given charge of west Uttar Pradesh.

The three leaders discussed the plan of action for Uttar Pradesh, a state which is core to the Congress party's Lok Sabha goals.

According to party sources, after meeting with the party general secretaries Rahul Gandhi will hold talks with state chiefs and other office bearers where plans and approach for the Lok Sabha polls for respective states will be chalked out.

These will then be finalised at the at the Congress Working Committee meeting slated to be held later this month.

While the Congress has been harping on the need for a grand alliance of opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), any such formal tie-up is yet to materialise. 

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Akhilesh Yadav headed Samajwadi Party (SP) have already announced their alliance snubbing the Congress.

However, the party is still hopeful of a post-poll alliance with the SP-BSP combine and Uttar Pradesh will be high on the agenda in both the meetings.

Besides the SP-BSP combine, the Congress is also trying to woo the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which too has appeared unwilling for any tie-up in West Bengal.

"Both the SP-BSP and the Trinamool will have a key role to play in government formation. But our first aim is to contest as many seats as possible in both UP and Bengal," said a party leader.