Rahul Gandhi convenes UP Congress leaders' meet on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: Gearing up for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled early next year, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has convened a meeting of state party leaders tomorrow for a strategy session at which poll strategist Prashant Kishor is expected to be present.

Party sources said 30-35 state leaders have been called for deliberations being held at a time when the AICC has held consultations with DCC Presidents and block Congress Committee chiefs on candidates' selection.

AICC General Secretary Madhusudan Mistri has toured several districts for getting a feedback on ways and means to make the organisation fighting fit after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which only party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi could get elected from the state.

Kishor was one of the key backroom players for Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat and also in the last Lok Sabha polls when he was BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Kishor was also the strategist behind Nitish Kumar's campaign strategy in Bihar assembly poll last year.

Congress has been out of power in UP for over 26 years. The state was its stronghold till 1989 but the the Mandal and Ram Mandir issues and the rise of BSP sharply eroded the party's base.