UP Congress forgets its promise to women, only 3 find a place in 130-member committee

Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh Congress, which had launched its campaign for women with much fanfare in the 2022 assembly polls, appears to have had a change of heart.

Apart from abandoning the 'Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon', slogan, the Congress has not even bothered to give adequate representation to women in its 130-member state executive, announced two days ago.

The committee has only three women which is a meagre 2.3 per cent, in the committee. To make matters worse, all three women in the committee come from a non-Congress background.

Sarita Patel, who has been appointed general secretary, earlier belonged to CPI-ML while Archana Rathore, appointed as secretary has come in from Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party.

Purvi Varma, also a secretary, was in Samajwadi Party before joining the Congress. “It is shameful that our leaders could not find a committed Congress worker among the women and has only ‘imported’ elements,” said a veteran leader.

Another leader said that the raw deal given to women in the committee shows that the Congress leadership does not live up to its own promise of 40 per cent reservation to women.

“Priyanka Gandhi Vadra oversees UP and she had announced reservation for women in the 2022 assembly polls. She seems to have conveniently forgotten about the same in forming the committee. In fact, she has also abandoned UP because she has not found time to visit UP after the assembly polls last year,” said a former Congress MLA.

Congress veterans are of opinion that such decisions taken by the party leaders would work against the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “There is no one whom we can talk to regarding our grievances. It is a particular coterie that is working against party interests and focusing on their own personal interests. The results will be there for all to see in the general elections,” said a senior woman leader of the Congress.