New Delhi: Taking lessons from the recent poll debacles in Haryana and Maharashtra, the Congress has decided to revamp several of its state units and has started in earnest with Uttar Pradesh. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge has dissolved the entire Cong UP unit. The top party leaders have been asked to tour the state and hold parleys with the state cadre.
After the dissolution of all the committees of the UP Congress, preparations for a complete overhaul in the organisation have started. Those officials who remained inactive during the last Lok Sabha elections will be shown the way out.
"New responsibilities will be given to the young leaders who are continuously active. The 'active' old guards will also be given new responsibilities. Let us tell you that the party has started preparations for the Assembly elections in 2027," said a party insider.
According to sources, the Congress high command is upset that when Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped at the Ghazipur border en route to Sambhal, the party cadres were virtually missing. Insiders claim that the party district units have been pulled up as virtually no party workers were there at the Ghazipur border.
According to the UP Congress president Ajay Rai, a new committee will be formed in the next two months. The UP Congress is forming this new committee keeping in view the 2027 Assembly elections.
In this organisational change, the Congress will strengthen the organisation from booth to state level. This organisational change will also try to put an end to the tussle going on within the party for a long time. The party wants to fight the Assembly elections strongly this time. Therefore, many changes will be made at the organisational level so that the party can get maximum benefit. The party will crack the whip on leaders who engage in groupings," said Mr Rai.
In August 2023, the Congress appointed Mr Rai as the president. After some time, the UP Congress appointed Avinash Pandey as the state in-charge. Both of them have visited different districts of UP and prepared a report of inactive and active office bearers. The matter of appointments of the district and city presidents at many places was also discussed in the report prepared by the state unit chief and the AICC in-charge.
The Congress party admits there is a course correction to be done at the grassroots leadership level in UP. A senior Uttar Pradesh party leader said that even as yatras led by Mr Gandhi and Ms Vadra attracted "crowds" in the past, they could not “convert into votes".
"We need to take local equations into account and build strong units on the ground. That way, leaders will be proactive in taking the party's message forward," the leader said.
The Congress has been losing its ground in Uttar Pradesh since the 1980s. In the 2022 Assembly polls, it was reduced to two MLAs out of 403 in the UP Assembly.
