NEW UPCC LIST RAISES HACKLES, UNREST BREWS
PRAYAGRAJ :Unrest is brewing in the UP Congress cadres as also the former office-bearers of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) after the latter were left out in the cold and new and fewer faces included as the UPCC brass on Monday.
Upset over the sudden change in state leadership, some leaders even hinted at leaving the party and looking for greener pastures as they felt that there was no space for them within the party.
For example a former UPCC spokesperson, not wishing to be named, said that the Nehru-Gandhi bastion of Allahabad, now renamed as Prayagraj, had no representation in the new UPCC list as against four out of 36 general secretaries and a spokesperson hailing from Sangam city in the previous UPCC. He said that though the changes had been made keeping in view the forthcoming assembly polls on 11 assembly seats later this month including Pratapgarh, Lucknow Cantt, Rampur, Gangoh, Govindpur, Jalalpur, Zaidpur, Iglas, Manikpur, Ghosi and Balha, a drastic overhaul just few days before the assembly polls in state could prove to be counterproductive. Similarly, a former general secretary of the party’s state committee, not willing to be named, also expressed displeasure over the unexpected overhaul. New UPCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said that the unrest was temporary and he expected it to subside soon. “It is the decision of the party high command to make small committees and reach out to the maximum people,” he said.
CELEBRATIONS AT UPCC HEADQUARTERS
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congress workers distributed sweets and displayed fireworks to celebrate the appointment of Ajay Kumar Lallu as state party president and MLA Aradhana Mishra as the Congress Legislature Party leader. Mishra, who was present at the state party headquarters, said the party workers were enthused over appointment of Lallu.
As both Lallu and Aradhana will join their respective offices on October 11, a meeting was held at the UPCC headquarters here to review preparations for the arrival of new team.
YOUNG LEADERS SET TO TAKE CHALLENGE
AGRA:In the newly constituted UP Congress Committee, Agra is represented by Shabana Khandelwal, lone woman in the list of general secretaries and a young face Amit Singh, one of the secretaries. However, both of them face the Herculean task of reviving the Congress in their home city which last sent a Congress member to the Parliament way back in 1984. Post independence, Agra was strong a citadel of the Congress and the party won elections in 1951, 1957, 1962, 1967 and 1971, till the Janata Party broke its monopoly in 1977.