Restore unity, Rahul tells Chhattisgarh Congress

Raipur, May 18 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Friday threatened to enforce discipline if the party's top leaders of the party in Chhattisgarh did not come together immediately.

Addressing Youth Congress activists and later members of the National Students Union of India, Gandhi dropped a clear hint that youths would be given prominence in the next elections in the state.

The Congress, he said, would not allow Chhattisgarh to go the way of Uttar Pradesh where the Congress was routed this year mainly due to factionalism and a weak party structure.

Former chief minister Ajit Jogi, one of the contenders for power in the state, ruled out any power struggle in the Chhattisgarh Congress.

"There is no fight for leadership in the party. In the Congress, Soniaji is supreme. Whoever gets her blessings will become the chief minister if the party returns to power in Chhattisgarh," he said.

At the meetings, leader after leader called for unity.

Gandhi is trying to rejuvenate its grass root workers in the state who are more or less demoralized after losing assembly elections twice, mainly due to infighting.