NEW DELHI: The Congress constituted committees on Sunday to prepare for the Uttar Pradesh elections in which leaders such as Jitin Prasada and Raj Babbar, who were among signatories seeking a re-haul of the party, failed to find a place. Another prominent leader from Uttar Pradesh RPN Singh also was not accommodated in any of the committees.
Both Prasada and Babbar were among the 23 leaders who had signed a letter addressed to Sonia urging “internal democracy”. Interestingly, senior leaders Nirmal Khatri and Naseeb Pathan, who denounced the letter writers, have found places in the panels announced on Sunday evening.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has constituted the ‘Manifesto Committee, Outreach Committee, Membership Committee, Programme Implementation Committee,
Training and Cadre Development Committee, Panchayati Raj Election Committee, and Media and Communication Advisory Committee of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, said a press release from Congress leader KC Venugopal.
The crucial UP Assembly elections are likely to be held in February-March 2022. Almost all senior leaders have been accommodated —- Salman Khurshid on the Manifesto Committee, Pramod Tiwari on the Outreach Committee, Rashid Alvi on Media Advisory Committee. Noor Bano, Anugrah Narayan, and Rajesh Mishra have also got appointed to various committees.
Those in the Membership Committee include Ajay Kapoor, BL Khabri, Mohd Muqeem, former MP Kamal Kishore and former Varanasi MLA Ajay Rai.
The Media and Communication Advisory Committee has Rashid Alvi, Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Surendra Rajput, Omkar Singh and Virendra Madan.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president and the Congress Legislative Party leader will be ex-officio members of all the committees, an official communication from the party said.
Prior to this development on Sunday, senior Lok Sabha MPs Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor had not been accommodated in the Congress’ Lok Sabha panel mandated to formulate the Grand Old Party’s strategy in the House.
Tharoor, a former Union minister, had later tweeted calling for an end to leadership debate in the party.
Rise above affinity for kin: Expelled leaders to Sonia
Nine expelled UP Congress leaders have written to party president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to “rise above the affinity for the family” and run the organisation by establishing mutual trust.
In the letter dated September 2, the leaders said Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi built the Congress and the country with democratic values.
But it’s ironical that for sometime, the way in which the party is being run, there is confusion and depression among workers, they added.