LUCKNOW: The Congress party is believed to have taken major action against Indian Youth Congress (IYC) office-bearers who failed to turn up at the Opposition bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1.
As per sources, show-cause notices have been issued to office-bearers of the Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress. Moreover, the party has suspended around 68 office-bearers for being absent from the rally.
However, official sources in the party dismissed the reports of suspension as fake.
According to Kunwar Nishad, in charge of the Congress media cell, "No office-bearer has been suspended. The office-bearers concerned have only been issued show-cause notices."
The Congress had organised the "Save the Vote, Save the Country" rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1. Youth Congress office-bearers had been instructed to attend the rally in large numbers.
A digital system had also been put in place to record attendance at the rally, through which records were prepared of office-bearers who had arrived from different states.
As per sources, the suspension of the IYC office-bearers was effected on the basis of a statement by one of the state Congress spokespersons.
It was claimed that the Youth Congress national president had taken action, considering absence from the Delhi rally an act of organisational indiscipline.
The sources said that the circulated list had the names of three state vice-presidents of IYC, 33 state general secretaries, 18 state secretaries, one joint secretary, one social media coordinator and 12 district presidents.
There had also been a claim that the Prayagraj district president was suspended. The reason being given was that Rahul Gandhi had held the 'Chhatron ki Goonj' programme in Prayagraj, yet the district president had not attended the rally in Delhi.
Moreover, a one-day workshop was held at the Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters here on Friday. Its objective was to involve district and city presidents from 134 district units, chairpersons of frontal organisations, cell departments, and legal cell/connect centre office-bearers, to identify issues related to public welfare and formulate a strategy for effective protests and agitations against the government over them.
Senior Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Abhay Dubey, Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam, state president Aradhana Mishra 'Mona' and other leaders addressed the workshop.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, Congress leader Pawan Khera claimed that the party had deep roots in Uttar Pradesh while exuding confidence and enthusiasm about interacting with party members at the meeting focused on poll preparations.
"In UP, Congress's roots are right there. So coming here always feels good. It was wonderful to speak and interact with everyone in this meeting as there was a lot to learn," he said.
The event was named Sangathan Samvad Sankalp Mission 2027 to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming elections.
UPCC chief Aradhana Mishra Mona said the workshop focused on four areas, including legal matters related to SIR, social media, media and the party's war room.
The party's state in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam said the workshop was to prepare a campaign strategy covering every village in the state.
On the alliance between AIMIM and Azad Samaj Party, Gautam said that India's Constitution permitted everyone to contest elections in a democracy. "Now whoever wants to form an alliance with whomever, let them do so. That is their personal matter. The Congress party has nothing to do with it," he added.
Gautam also rejected the reports that the Congress had submitted a list of 130 Assembly seats to the SP, contradicting his earlier stand that the Congress had handed over a list of 175 seats to the SP.