The Bengal unit of the Congress has drawn up programmes for its revival in the state following the party’s triumph in Karnataka.

State leaders hope Rahul Gandhi will attend one of such events.

The Congress will organise two big events in the near future to boost the party’s organisation in the state ahead of the panchayat elections. The programmes are being organised to highlight the party’s success in the Sagardighi bypoll and the Karnataka Assembly elections.

One of the two events will be a public meeting at Esplanade in Calcutta, while the other will be a workers’ conference at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in the city.

Both the venues have been decided on tentatively and the state leadership has plans to invite Rahul to the second event.

“Yes, two events have been planned. The dates and other details will be finalised at a meeting we have called on May 18. We hope Rahulji can make it to the second programme,” said state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

He added that under his instructions, Congress veteran Nepal Mahato was already organising panchayati rajconferences in all blocks ofthe state to re-infuse vigour in the party’s workers totake on the might of the Trinamul Congress and theBJP.

The workers’ meeting will be the culmination event for this.

According to Congress leaders, the party has made serious recoveries of its lost support base over the past few months, especially in the minority-dominated districts of Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur.

This has prompted the Trinamul leadership to ask its units in these three districts to guard against the Congress’s resurgence.

“The Karnataka verdict is a major boost for us, everyone in Bengal is talking about it,” a Congress source said.

“In the rural polls, wewill have a strong alliancewith the Left Front. This is why it is necessary for us to strengthen ourselves first,” he added.