The Congress is working at a furious pace to replace top office bearers in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. On Tuesday, the party expelled six of its MLAs in the State for cross-voting in the recently-concluded Rajya Sabha elections.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to travel abroad on Wednesday and sources said she speeded up the process for a reshuffle, starting with the approval for the expulsions. She will chair a meeting on Tuesday night to finalise a new set of high-ranking office bearers, the sources said.
The names of senior Congress leaders Jitin Prasada and Pramod Tiwari are being mentioned in the party headquarters for key assignments. Some leaders believe Mr. Prasada will be appointed as the State party chief, replacing Nirmal Khatri, and Mr. Tiwari will be fielded as the campaign chief.
But Mr. Prasada told The Hindu that he had not received any official communication on his promotion. “It’s too early to say anything,” he said.
Two days ago, the high command deputed one of its most trusted leaders, Ghulam Nabi Azad, as the general secretary in charge of U.P. Mr.Azad will visit Lucknow on June 16 to chair a State-level meeting.
Sources said the party would invest its energy on cultivating the support of Muslims and Brahmins. Mr. Azad’s entry and the likelihood of Mr. Prasada taking over as the State party president were in line with its electoral agenda for U.P. The MLAs who were expelled by Ms. Gandhi for cross voting are Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal, Madhuri Verma, Vijay Dubey, Mohd. Muslim, Dilnawaz Khan and Kazim Ali Khan.
