The Congress in Uttar Pradesh is struggling to see a light after a massive change in the party's leadership with many leaders jumping ship. The latest to quit the party is senior Congress leader Vinod Chaudhary, who resigned from the disciplinary committee of the UP Congress.
He sent a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that it was difficult for him to work in the 'changed circumstances'.
"In the new UP Congress Committee, I do not even know the majority of the office bearers and it will be difficult working with them. Hence I wish to resign as a member of the party's disciplinary committee," he said.
This resignation comes a day after former Congress MP Ratna Singh joined the BJP is another in the series of jolts that the Congress has been experiencing after the change of guard in the UPCC.
Priyanka's three-day training camp postponed
In addition to this, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's three-day training camp, which will help teach new members with the party system and program keeping the 2022 elections in mind, in Rae Bareli which was scheduled has also been postponed.
The training camp will most likely be scheduled for October 22 but not confirmation has come out yet.
"The new Congress team in UP comprises relative newcomers and they need to be acquainted with the ideology and working of the party. Senior leaders were to teach them how to deal with political situations," a Congress leader had told news agency IANS.
The leader added, "Party leaders are being engaged in the workshop at a time when they should be campaigning for the Congress candidates. The workshop could have been held after the by-elections. This is obviously going to have an adverse impact on the party's prospects in by-polls."
Resignations from party show no sign of slowing down
Amidst the confusion about the training camp, the resignations show no sign of slowing down.
Earlier, former MLC Siraj Mehndi had resigned from the membership of AICC and PCC in protest against the exclusion of Shias from the new committee.
If sources are to be believed, more resignations within the party are on their way.
"Some more senior leaders are feeling stifled in the new dispensation. The new team shows no respect for the seniors and some of the leaders have not even been offered a chair at the party office. For those who have spent their best years in Congress, this is objectionable. This is the new Priyanka culture which is leading to the disintegration of the state unit," said a senior leader.
A former youth Congress leader Tarun Patel had even termed the UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu as a 'Lallu-Panju (meaning an irrelevant person in local parlance)'.
The party has not even taken cognisance of the statement and, as a result, the UP Congress is now popularly known as 'Lallu Congress'.
Apart from this, the Congress also finds itself incapable of initiating action against the rebels.
Congress MLA Aditi Singh defied the party whip and attended the special Assembly session on October 2. She was served a show-cause notice on October 4 and asked to submit her reply within 48 hours.
It has been more than 12 days but Aditi Singh has not even taken cognisance of the notice, leave alone replying to it.
Rakesh Singh, another rebel Congress MLA, has already stopped attending party functions and meetings and is inclined towards BJP.
Both these legislators, incidentally, are from Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
