Newly appointed UP Congress chief Raj Babbar would be coming to lucknow to take charge of the state unit on Saturday.
A Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand, Babbar would be accompanied by AICC general secretary and UP in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad.
UPCC media committee chairman Satyadeo Tripathi said on Thursday that Babbar and Azad would reach lucknow by a flight on Saturday noonand will reach the state headquarters around 1pm and stay for the next two days. On route, both leaders would be accorded a warm welcome at several places in the state capital.
Meanwhile, a meeting of senior Congress leaders has been convened here on Friday to plan the welcome of Babbar. The meet will be chaired by outgoing state chief Nirmal Khatri.
"We will erect more than 100 gates on the route which Babbar will take to reach the headquarters from airport. Besides hoardings will be put up in different parts of lucknow," said UPCC media cell spokesman Amarnath Agarwal.
Outgoing UPCC chief Nirmal Khatri would welcome his successor at the Mall Avenue party headquarters and will hand over the charge to Babbaron Saturday afternoon.
The 53rd UPCC chief, Raj Babbar is well versed with lucknow as he had contested the 2004 lok Sabha election from lucknow on a SP ticket against former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Born in Tundla near Agra (UP) Babbar (64) belongs to the OBC community. He has been thrice been elected to lok Sabha and is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand.
Entering politics nby joining Janata Dal led by then PM Vishwanath Pratap Singh in 1989, Babbar joined the Samajwadi Party in 1993 and was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1994. He was suspended from the SP following differences with high profile general secretary Amar Singh. But in October 2009, he showed the SP its place by drubbing Dimple Yadav, the wife of CM Akhilesh Yadav, from Ferozabad lok Sabha bypolls.