Sonia overrules Rahul on Congress setup in UP

LUCKNOW: Overruling Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's diktat to Uttar Pradesh Congress to prune the size of its executive committee by half, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s office has cleared an enormous 402-member state executive.
Rahul had turned down the proposal for the mammoth executive when it was sent to him earlier by Uttar Pradesh PCC chief Nirmal Khatri.In a note to Khatri, he had asked him to cut the executive by half, not exceeding more than 250 members. Subsequently, Khatri sent a pruned list of office bearers and executive committee members. But Sonia Gandhi’s office overrode Rahul’s objections and approved the original list.
The UP PCC made the announcement about the state executive on Tuesday. Rahul had asserted earlier that he was not in favour of creating large, unwieldy groups in the name of state executives.
But look at the new UP PCC list: It now has 34 vice presidents, 64 general secretaries, 43 organising secretaries, 107 secretaries, 84 executive committee members and 69 permanent invitee members.
Besides, Khatri holds the president’s post and Harish Bajpai is treasurer. Together with a 26-member communication department announced on Wednesday, the total strength of the executive exceeds 425. This is the largest-ever executive in UP PCC’s history. The last executive, which was dissolved eight months ago, had 288 members.
In its please-all gesture, the PCC attempts to reach out to all castes and communities. Khatri chose 81 Brahmins, 43 Thakurs, 61 OBCs, 55 Muslims, 52 Dalits and two tribals. While 35 women have been included, 32 belong to other communities.
Justifying the enormous list, freshly-appointed in charge of UP Congress’s communication unit, VN Madan, said, “UP is a very large state. To orchestrate the revival of the party, we needed to create an all-inclusive group spanning all castes and religions.”
However, in what is clearly an embarrassment for the state unit, two functionaries, Amir Haidar and Siraj Wali Khan, quit soon after their names figured in the list as secretary and executive member.
“Both Khan and I have resigned but remain dedicated to the Congress. There are others who should be appointed,” Haider told TOI. Ironically, Haider had last year authored a book, ‘Kadwa Sach’ (Bitter Truth) on the state of the Congress in the country. In the book, Haider says that party workers like him have not been “adequately respected” for their contribution to the Congress.