LS polls: Congress ropes in BJP MLA Avtar Singh Bhadana, student leader

The Congress in the presence of party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday reinducted BJP's Avtar Singh Bhadana into the outfit.

Bhadana, an MLA from Mirapur seat joined the Congress a day after the party forged an alliance with the OBC-dominated Mahaan Dal.

Bhadana is a three-time MP from Faridabad constituency in Haryana and one-time MP from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh

Congress also admitted student leader, Sunil Yadav, who had shown black flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to the Allahabad University.

The Rahul Gandhi-led party is leaving no stone unturned in garnering support in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha.

Also, in a bid to review the poll preparedness, Priyanka along with Jyotiraditya Scindia conducted meetings with booth levels workers for over 12 hours. For past few days both the leaders have been meeting party workers at the ground level rigorously.

Scindia earlier this week had opined that Congress' poll strategy for the upcoming general elections will be based on regional issues.

Giving insight of the meeting, a party worker told ANI, "She (Priyanka) spoke to all the workers and asked them about their booths and their work. And said it was also discussed how to fight the elections in regions dominated by mafias".

Another worker underscored, "She asked in detail about every booth and about the meetings held."

On Monday, Priyanka along with Scindia and brother Rahul Gandhi conducted a fierce road show in Lucknow.

The roadshow was also the Congress's first mega show of strength in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to sources, Priyanka is scheduled to visit several constituencies in eastern UP region from 18 February to 21 February.

She was formally ushered into the party fold on January 23 on "a mission" to transform its fortunes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in a few months.

The decision to induct Priyanka was taken days after Samajwadi Party and BSP decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls jointly and kept the Congress out of the alliance.