Congress staged an impressive road show in lucknow to mark the arrival of its new team of leaders for the crucial state assembly elections in 2017. Newly appointed state congress chief Raj Babbar and Chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit along with many other senior leaders arrived here on Sunday.
Congress supporters from all over state thronged the Amausi airport to welcome their leaders for the `UP Mission 2017 ‘led by Raj Babbar and Sheila Dixit.
However, an accident was averted when a temporary wooden platform made on a truck for the Congress mega Road show collapsed soon after it began its journey from the airport. Senior party leaders, including Raj Babbar and Sheila Dikshit escaped unhurt. Sheila Dikshit however received minor bruises on her knee. The wooden platform collapsed due to excessive load as several leaders had mounted the truck. The entire stretch of lucknow- Kanpur road from airport to Hazratganj was choked due to the road show. It was after a long time that such enthusiasm was witnessed among the Congress workers in the state.
The spirit of the road show was however dampened by the absence of AICC general secretary Gulam Nabi Azad and also the state in charge, who could not made it due to his busy schedule in connection with the monsoon session of the parliament staring from Monday. Former Union minister Salman Khursid, who is the member of the newly formed Coordination committee was also absent as he was in Kashmir.
The Congress leaders during the road show also garlanded the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr B R Ambedkar and Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel in Hazratganj before addressing the thousands of supporters at the state party headquarters amid rains.
The road-show was from Airport to Party’s office at Mall Avenue. For the first time after many years, many Congress leaders in expression of solidarity were on the rooftop of one vehicle showing commitment that all Congressmen are under one umbrella to ensure return of the party to power in the State.
"Congress grand road-show has been organised to welcome our new state president Raj Babbar, chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit, campaign committee chief Sanjay Singh, coordination committee chief Pramod Tewari, along with all other leaders who were either nominated as senior vice-presidents or members in the different committees”, said Chairman of the media department of the state congress Satyadeo Tripathi.
Along the route of road show from airport to the state of the Congress more than 100 welcome gates were erected besides hoardings and cut-outs of leaders. The leaders were welcomed at more than 50 spots by the local leaders and ticket aspirants for the 2017 assembly polls.
Besides Raj Babbar and Sheila Dikshit, Congress had announced several committees to accommodate all the senior leaders. The outgoing state president Nirmal Khatri has been appointed as the chairman of the State Screening Committee for assembly elections, Sanjay Singh has been made chief of the campaign committee, and Pramod Tewari is the chief of the Coordination Committee.
The coordination also includes the former state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Mohsina Kidwai, Rajeev Shukla, Salman Khursheed, Shree Prakash Jaiswal, Saleem Sherwani, Pradeep Jain Aditya, Nirmal Khatri, Pl Punia and Pradeep Mathur. In campaign committee, besides Sanjay Singh, former minister Jitin Prasad, Gyadeen Anuragi, Vijendra Singh and Zafar Ali Naqvi have also been included. Former Union minister of state RPN Singh has been accommodated as the senior vice-president of UPCC along with Imran Masood, Bhagwati Prasad Chowdhary, Rajesh Mishra, and Raja Ram Pal.