Himachal Congress to project 'united face'

Shimla, May 1 (IANS) The opposition Congress in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday announced it would stage public rallies in the state beginning this month to project its united face in the run up to assembly polls due later this year.

A closed-door day-long meeting of the party was held at Parwanoo town.

Among others, union ministers Anand Sharma and Virbhadra Singh, party general secretary and in charge for the state Birender Singh, leader of opposition Vidya Stokes and party state chief Kaul Singh attended the meeting.

"The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. We will go to polls with collective leadership and hold joint rallies in the state, beginning May 19," Kaul Singh told reporters.

Party sources said it has been decided that if any leader has to hold a separate rally, it would be with the knowledge and permission of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee and the party in-charge Birender Singh.

The meeting at Parwanoo was a fallout of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's diktat April 24, wherein she had told the warring Congress leaders of the state to sink differences and sit together for a joint strategy for the party's victory in the state.

Gandhi had summoned the senior leaders to Delhi when she got feedback that they were holding separate and confrontational rallies to promote their own leadership ahead of the polls.

She had told them to stop pursuing separate agenda and come under one roof to work out a joint strategy, while skipping the issue of announcing the chief ministerial candidate at this moment.