As Lok Sabha polls near, Rahul Gandhi tells party workers to stand united

AMETHI: With an eye on next year's Lok Sabha polls, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today asked party activists to stand united, strengthen the organisation and apprise masses of various welfare schemes launched by the UPA government.

"He told party workers that elections are near and all should work unitedly and strengthen the Congress in a planned manner," Amethi Congress Committee spokesman Rajendra Singh told reporters here.

Addressing a meeting of the 31-member district Congress committee in his Parliamentary constituency, the Gandhi scion told them to brief the masses about several welfare schemes launched by the UPA government at the Centre.

"The people do not know what the Union government is doing. Party workers have to go to them and apprise them of benefits of various central schemes," Singh said.

The Congress MP told the meeting, attended by his sister Priyanka, that party activists should fan out to villages and brief people about the food security and other schemes, party sources said.

Each DCC member was given a set of 15 booklets on the Central schemes containing details about the programmes, they said.

Besides giving separate responsibility to each DCC member, they were told not to talk to media.

Only the party spokesman was entitled to talk to reporters, the meeting was told.

Later, Gandhi along with Priyanka held a meeting with 17 block and five city unit presidents.

Earlier, as Gandhi's cavalcade was heading towards Munsiganj guest house, it was stopped by a group of about 200 locals at Akelwa crossing who demanded a railway halt, better roads and proper power supply in the area, the sources said.

The MP asked them to send a five-member delegation to the guest house for discussion on their demands.