Priyanka expands UPCC to end dissent for better results in panchayat elections

To cool down the growing dissent within the party cadre for being ignored by UPCC President Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra finally took a U-turn when she expanded the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, hoping that it might bring in some good news for the party in the coming panchayat polls, besides giving momentum for the assembly elections scheduled early next year.

Sources said that Vadra, who is against a jumbo size committee in UP from the beginning, finally started realising that without giving some posts to the disgruntled leaders, she could not end dissent within the party as just a few office-bearers in the UPCC only promoted those close to state president or her close aides working with Ajay Kumar Lallu.

Finally last Tuesday, she released a list of office-bearers, expanding the already existing committee to 125. She tried to accommodate more leaders from different sections with the hope that they would show results at the ground level in the panchayat elections and make Congress a serious contender in the 2022 assembly polls.
The three-tier panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in four phases from April 15.

Sources said that when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced the new committee under Ajay Kumar Lallu, she appointed 65 leaders as office-bearers, including Lallu, sending a clear message that she wanted leaders with “performance”. Her move upset many leaders, especially seniors, as they were shocked to find no `responsibility’ assigned to them even when they had already spent three to four decades of their career working for the Congress.
Taking it as an insult, many senior leaders opposing the treatment of the veterans in the party, called a separate meeting to raise their voice about how a combination of youngsters and seniors should go together to strengthen the party. Sources close to Lallu confirmed that the UPCC president saw the move as a serious threat to his own future in the party so he used his closeness with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to influence her to remove about a dozen veteran leaders from the party. Those expelled included former MPs, MLAs, ministers etc. Surprisingly, these veterans tried to meet party president Sonia Gandhi to appraise her about their stand but they failed to meet her.

Sources said that one year after the removal of the veterans as well as over a dozen other leaders who expressed their displeasure over the style of functioning of Lallu, the new UPCC failed to give any desired results in the last by-polls. Many leaders upset with Lallu’s behaviour also quit the party to join other political parties. As the resentment grew, the dissidents formed a WhatsApp group to openly criticise the functioning of Lallu and how the appointment of some communist bent of mind leaders in the UPCC administration had proved to be last nail in the coffin for the grand old party which was gasping for breath in this biggest state of the country.

The growing dissidents within the party could be gauged from the fact that over a year has passed of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visiting the UPCC or attending any meeting here at party’s headquarters.

Now with both three-tier panchayat elections beginning from April 15 and assembly polls next year, Priyanka made the first move to end dissent by expanding the UPCC with the induction of 60 more leaders as vice-presidents, general secretaries and secretaries.

Lallu, who called a meeting here on Thursday to discuss how to fight the panchayat elections with full strength, claimed that they accommodated young and experienced leaders and the total strength of the UPCC office-bearers had now reached 125.

“We have fixed responsibilities for the new team to ensure good results,” he added.
Like earlier, now a general secretary will work as incharge of the party’s organisation in three districts while a secretary will be in charge of one district.
“The party will work harder in the coming months and all leaders will be accommodated somewhere or the other,” said a senior office-bearer close to Lallu, adding that the organisation would be further expanded a few months before the assembly elections to satisfy the remaining dissidents.