No room for ‘letter rebels’ Jitin Prasada or Raj Babbar in Congress panels for 2022 UP polls

Former Union minister Jitin Prasada & former UP Congress chief Raj Babbar were among 23 leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi demanding an internal election.

File image of Congress leader Jitin Prasada | Photo: ANI

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections might be over a year and a half away in 2022, but the Congress has already announced the formation of seven committees for the polls. These include a manifesto committee, media advisory committee, training committee, panchayati raj election committee, membership committee, outreach committee and programme implementation.

But while senior Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid, Pramod Tiwari, P.L. Punia and Anugrah Narayan Singh have been named in these committees, former Union minister of state Jitin Prasada and former UP Congress chief Raj Babbar’s names are conspicuous by their absence.

Prasada and Babbar were among the 23 leaders who had recently written to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on the upheaval within the party, demanding an internal presidential elections.

Other prominent names missing from the lists include the Congress’ lone Member of the UP Legislative Council Deepak Singh, former Union minister of state R.P.N. Singh, and former MPs Annu Tandon and Rajeev Shukla, the last of whom is considered close to party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Sidelined or will be accommodated later?

Prasada and Babbar, along with other 21 leaders, had written to Sonia Gandhi last month, asking for an internal presidential election to right the Congress’ floundering ship. Sources in the party said the high command has shown no indication that the anger against these leaders is ebbing, which is why they have not been included in any committee.

A UP Congress functionary told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity: “R.P.N. Singh is in-charge of Jharkhand and Rajeev Shukla accompanies Priyanka Gandhi on virtually every UP tour, so they can’t be called ‘sidelined’. But Prasada and Babbar currently have no responsibilities, which shows that their ‘letter bomb’ has backfired on them.”

Prasada has been active in raising the issue of murders of Brahmins in the state, under the banner of his recently launched platform Brahmin Chetna Parishad. He has also been running a programme on Zoom, which has generated some buzz.

After the letter controversy surfaced and the high command made its displeasure clear, Prasada had clarified that his attempts to improve the party functioning should not be seen as going against the Congress leadership and the Gandhi family.

However, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said some names that haven’t been included in these committees will be included in other panels to be announced before the polls.

Lallu told ThePrint: “There is no difference of opinion with any leader. We have only formed a few committees, but many others are yet to be formed, where they will be accommodated. Our effort will be to give responsibilities to everyone. We will fight the elections together under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi.”