Congress MP from Faizabad Nirmal Khatri on Tuesday was made the new Uttar Pradesh Congress Comiittee (UPCC) chief in a bid to revive the organisation in the key state after the party’s debacle in the February Assembly elections.
Khatri, an old loyalist of the Gandhi family, is replacing Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who resigned in March last owning up the moral responsibility for the poll debacle.
Choosing one from the Khatri community, which is less than one per cent of the total population, the high command expects ‘there would be fair chances of all caste and communities coming under Khatri’s umbrella.’
So far, the post was given to a person from a dominant caste, who has good representation in the population -- a criteria adopted by almost all political parties. “If there would have been an upper caste leader, the OBCs would have felt let down and vice-versa. This is a good decision by the high command which could be the beginning of the end of caste politics, at least in the Congress,” said a senior Congress MLA.
Despite party’s five-year-long preparation from 2007, Mission 2012 of the Congress had failed to fructify, which led to Rita’s resignation.