New Delhi: Congress is yet to finalize new state chiefs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar even after two weeks of the 'Chintan Shivir' where a roadmap for the future was discussed.
The state chief in Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Lallu had been asked to resign by the central leadership after the March Assembly poll results while the Bihar unit chief Madan Mohan Jha was asked to make way for a new person in April, just days ahead of a mega Gandhi Sandesh Yatra the party had planned to establish connect with the voters.
The party went into the Udaipur Chintan Shivir on May 13 to 15 without new state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as it was expected the key appointments would be finalized after the brainstorming session. The main issue, said party sources, is to identify the right person for the job keeping in mind the party’s national as well as state objectives.
“The person has to be a leader with wide acceptability and someone who can carry all sections along,” AICC secretary in charge of UP Dhiraj Gurjar said when asked about the formation of the new state team.
Ajay Kumar Lallu was named as Uttar Pradesh unit chief by AICC in charge of the State Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in 2019. Since then, he played an active role but lacked an appeal across the state. Now, the party hopes for a face, which has resonance among the voters of Uttar Pradesh, but also suits the caste-based politics in the State.
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“The challenge for the Congress is to prepare the ground for the 2024 national elections as well as the 2027 Assembly polls given the rival Samajwadi Party has become the main opposition to the BJP,” said a senior AICC functionary.
Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and the Congress currently has just one seat, Rae Bareli represented by party chief Sonia Gandhi. In the recent Assembly polls, the party managed to win just two out of the 403 seats.
The situation is more or less similar in Bihar, where Congress is in a better position than Uttar Pradesh but is nowhere close to what it aims to be. Recently, the AICC in-charge of Bihar Bhakta Charan Das had sent a list of names for the revamped state unit but it did not find favor with the local leaders.
Sources said Das had suggested the name of veteran Rajesh Ram as state unit chief, along with Kumar Ashish, Brajesh Pandey, Qaiser Khan, Meenat Rehmani, Amita Bhushan, and Pravin Kushwaha as working presidents. He had also suggested several names for the vice president’s post.
However, the senior state leaders expressed their concern over the suggested list to the AICC in-charge of Organization KC Venugopal, who has left the decision to the high command. “The new team will be in place soon,” said Das.
In 2020, Congress had won 19 out of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly against 75 of its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal. In 2019, the grand old party had just one out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
