RAJ BABBAR APPOINTED UP CONGRESS CHIEF

New Delhi: The Congress party announced on Tuesday it had appointed former film actor Raj Babbar the president of its Uttar Pradesh unit.

State Assembly polls are due early next year.

“The Congress face (meaning its nominee for chief minister) for UP will be announced once the campaign begins. The campaign is yet to start,” said the party’s general secretary in charge of the state, Ghulam Nabi Azad. He was answering questions at a press conference on a day Priyanka Gandhi had an hour-long meeting with him about UP.

Babbar was born in Tundla, near Agra, and entered politics in 1989, joining V P Singh’s Janata Dal. Later, he joined the Samajwadi Party and was with the SP till 2005. In 2006, he was expelled on the charge of anti-party activity. In 2009, he joined the Congress, defeating present Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, Dimple, in a spectacular Lok Sabha election. He is a two-term MP and Agra is considered his area of influence.