The Congress
vice-president, Mr Rahul Gandhi, today initiated the giant step
forward to gear up the party to confront the Akali Dal-BJP alliance
with the announcement to launch Save Punjab campaign from November 14
to eradicate the menace of drugs. Referring to the anger of tsunami
among
people sweeping across length and breadth of the state, he expressed the
optimism that none could defeat a united Congress in the next Assembly
elections due in 2017.



Mr Gandhi’s plans to rev up the party in the border state got going with
his interactions at three levels that included block and district
presidents, MPs, MLAs, members of the Pradesh Congress Committee and other
senior leaders. His first meeting was with the BCC and DCC presidents
followed by the PPCC and his day’s programme concluded with a meeting with
the PPCC Kisan Wing and a delegation of the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by Mr
Bhupinder Singh Mann.



The main leaders present included the party’s National General Secretary
Mrs Ambika Soni, party Secretary Mr Harish Chaudhary, the PPCC chief Mr
Partap Singh Bajwa, the Deputy Leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Capt.
Amarinder Singh, former chief minister Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former
PPCC presidents including Mr H S Hanspal, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mr
Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Mr Virender Kataria and Ch Santokh Singh, MP.



Apart from a resolution adopted for moving the Supreme Court to seek CBI
probe into the smuggling of drugs, Mr Gandhi, while elaborating the Save
Punjab campaign, said the party volunteers would be trained to educate the
people against the menace of drugs who would go door to door to cover the
entire state within two years beginningNovember 14.



In the first phase, this campaign would be launched in five Assembly
constituencies including Majitha, Qadian, Ghanaur, Chabewal and Ludhiana
Urban. The party decided to give top priority to the eradication of this
menace which is eating into the vitals of once this most progressive state
but had now come into the category of laggards due to mismanagement,
non-governance and open loot by the SAD government.



His emphasis was on strengthening the party at the lowest levels and said
even the senior most leaders should work at the grassroots and attend the
meetings of the BCCs and DCCs. He made it clear that the criteria for the
allotment of tickets would be party work. He said the BCC presidents had
the most vital role to play to gear up the party.

Yet another important decision taken at the meeting of the presidents of
the DCCs and BCCs was to set up booth level committees. Mr Gandhi called
upon the party to complete this exercise of setting 11-member committee for
each of the about 19,000 booths and the exercise would be completed in
about a month. This would involve mobilising more than 2 lakh party
activists at the grassroots.