KPCC team conducts recce at Doddaballapur ground outside city for AICC meet

BENGALURU: The Bharat Scouts and Guides Grounds in Doddaballapur on the outskirts of Bengaluru is likely to be the venue for the All India Congress Committee ( AICC) session where Rahul Gandhi could be anointed party president. The Congress is scoping out possible venues in and around the city for the session.

The grounds hosted a Jamboree of the Scouts and Guides just last month and accommodated crowds of up to 5,000 people. State power minister DK Shivakumar had inaugurated that event and the idea for hosting the session arose from there.

“A Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee ( KPCC) team has done a recce of the area, and it could score over Palace Grounds inside the city on various counts,“ said a top source in the party. The area has many resorts where delegates could be accommodated and is close to the airport, so access to it does not require cutting across Bengaluru's notoriously intractable traffic, which, with the SPG protectees being ferried around could create bad publicity for the event.

“The dates for the session were supposed to be April 10-12, but the air of uncertainty over the events, with the party vice-president taking a leave of absence, has meant that even the AICC is unsure of the dates and venues,“ said the source.

The Karnataka Assembly will see the tabling of the state budget on March 13, and the state government will be busy preparing for the budget session when much of the preparation has to be done.

“We were sounded out earlier and then things have been drifting. At the Scouts and Guides ground, logistics would be easy. We are still awaiting a final word. The event is likely to be pushed by a week or two,“ the source said.

Speculation has been rife in Karnataka, the biggest among the diminishing number of states ruled by the Congress, over the events in Delhi. The state unit, however, appears confident that Rahul Gandhi will be elected party president, and most likely in their own city.