Hectic preparations are underway for the proposed August 8 rally from where Congress President Sonia Gandhi is expected to launch the campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year.
A "Sonia Rath" was being taken around the rural areas of nearby districts and Congress workers had organised torchlight processions at various places to attract people to the rally at Phoolbagh.
Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, who is in charge of the rally management, roped in some Union ministers and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit to visit this industrial town besides the active participation of Congress MPs from the state.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Salman Khursheed and AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot had also paid visits to oversee preparations for the rally.
The Congress chief was expected to flag off the party poll campaign for the February 2007 state Assembly elections at the rally on August 8, according to party sources.
Congress leaders, meanwhile, alleged that Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's rally in Kanpur on Tuesday night was organised by the state government and the district administration,
{{/usCountry}}Congress leaders, meanwhile, alleged that Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's rally in Kanpur on Tuesday night was organised by the state government and the district administration,
{{/usCountry}}They claimed "people from rural areas and other districts will arrive at the Congress rally venue on August 8 on their own".
Samajwadi Party leader Surender Mohan Agrawal dismissed the charge saying Yadav had come to distribute unemployment allowances to youths. "If there was a call for a rally, huge crowds would have been assembled, he said.