Young turks from JNU running UP Cong now

On 13 of February, when Congress’ national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala held a press conference in Lucknow to oppose the Bhartiya Janta Party’s alleged attempt to “destroy constitution and reservation policy”, the Uttar Pradesh Congress announced that it would organise ‘Samvidhan Chaupal’ across state from February 16 onwards to make people aware of “BJP strategy”.

The move was viewed as the party’s attempt to woo Dalits, Tribals and OBCs ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.

A week on, the program hasn’t taken off. Senior leaders FPJ spoke to cited cluelessness.

When FPJ asks Pradip Narwal, the UP in-charge of SC/ST department who was supposed to head the campaign, admits “Samvidhan Chaupal is bit delayed. Meanwhile, we are starting “Arakshan Yatra” from Meerut to Gorakhpur from Fe 25.”

This exposes the party’s way of functioning in the most politically significant state where it is struggling for survival since long. This is not the only gaffe though.

A month ago, the state unit abruptly removed the UP media coordinator Rajiv Tyagi, although it was not entitled to do so. The decision was silently backed by the national leadership and Tyagi was shown the door which shocked the cadre and leaders both. A fresh team of nine media panellists has been formed on Friday which includes JNU alumnus Anup Patel and veteran leaders.

Sandeep Singh, a JNU alumnus believed to be Rahul Gandhi’s political advisor and speech writer since 2017, is calling the shots in Uttar Pradesh now, say senior leaders who have been sidelined under the new set-up.

Other JNU alumni who have bagged the crucial posts in UP recently are- former JNSU president Mohit Pandey as Social Media head and Anup Patel (OBC Cell head).