The Congress on Monday approved the dissolution of all its district committees in Uttar Pradesh, a month after the party’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
It has also decided to set up a three-member disciplinary committee to look into complaints of “gross indiscipline” during the recently concluded elections, a statement issued by party general secretary KC Venugopal said. The party will depute a two-member team to oversee election preparations in all the Assembly seats in eastern and western Uttar Pradesh where the bye-polls for 12 seats are scheduled to take place soon.
The All India Congress Committee approved the large scale rejig to the Uttar Pradesh unit following the proposals submitted by its Congress General Secretary in charge of eastern UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and General Secretary in charge of western UP Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Ajay Kumar Lallu, leader of the Congress Legislative Party, has also been appointed in-charge for making organisational changes in Uttar Pradesh East for a defined period, the party said. Scindia will announce the name of the person who will be in charge of making organisational changes in Uttar Pradesh West later, it added.
Both the party general secretaries had held review meetings following the party’s poll debacle.
Recently, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also lashed out at her party members who, she said, “did not work for the party in the elections”. “I will find out about those who did not work for the party in the elections,” she declared then.
Uttar Pradesh sends 80 parliamentarians, the most in the country, to the Lok Sabha. Vadra was among the Congress’s most vigorous campaigners in the state, speaking at rallies in Raebareli and Amethi, as well as taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his stronghold of Varanasi. Despite this, the Congress won just one seat – Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli – of the 80 seats in the state during the Lok Sabha elections. The only other Congress MP from 2014 – her son and party chief Rahul Gandhi – lost family bastion Amethi to BJP leader Smriti Irani.
Congress had dissolved its Karnataka committee on June 19. The state party chief Dinesh Gundu Rao had then said that there will a total reorganisation of the party at all levels.
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured a landmark majority of seats in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 303 seats on its own while the National Democratic Alliance won 352 seats. The Congress, however, won only 52 seats out of the 543.
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