UP Congress imploding as Priyanka chooses to stay away

Lucknow: It is almost a month since the Congress faced its worst-ever drubbing in the assembly elections and the party is now imploding with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra staying away.

The party hit rock bottom by winning just two of the 403 seats and merely 2.3 per cent votes. Nearly 387 party candidates forfeited their deposits.

In ten seats, the party candidates got less votes than NOTA.

Displeasure against the team that handled the elections is growing by the day and party leaders are either being expelled or are walking out at an alarming rate.

"Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not even willing to listen to what party workers have to say. She has not come to Lucknow after the election results were announced and her coterie is happily taking action against anyone who speaks up. I am an AICC member but was expelled by her team even though it is against the rules. If they feel that by expelling dissenters, they will save the Congress, they are mistaken," said Zeeshan Haider, a senior party leader who was recently expelled.

He said that ever since Priyanka Gandhi was appointed general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, around 9,000 party leaders and workers have either left or have been pushed out.

"The Gandhis, it seems, are not willing to address the issues and problems. For them it does not matter that the party is almost over. The Congress president neither replies to our letters and nor does she agree to meet us," he added.

Another former Congress MP, who spoke to IANS on condition of anonymity, said, "Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should have called meetings of candidates and senior leaders to discuss the reasons for the debacle. We are exactly two years away from the Lok Sabha elections and if this head-in-the-sand attitude continues, the Congress will be relegated to the dustbin of history."

Surprisingly, Priyanka who based her poll campaign on 'Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon', has not even looked back at the party in the post poll situation.

The state unit is also in a state of limbo after Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu was asked to resign last month.

"It is a free-for-all situation here. None of the party leaders visit the party office and there is no political activity happening after the polls," said an employee at the UPCC office.