UP Congress leader Vinay Pradhan calls Rahul Gandhi 'Pappu' over farmers' strike, gets kicked out of party

A senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district was fired on Tuesday for referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as ‘pappu’ for his recent visit to Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district, where the leader got arrested . Mandsaur was on the boil last week after five farmers were killed in an alleged police firing. According to this report in The Times of India party’s Meerut district president Vinay Pradhan, in a Whatsapp message which was circulated several times, praised Rahul’s overtures in Mandsaur and said, “Pappu could have joined hands with Adani, Ambani and Mallya but he did not do that. Pappu could have been a minister or even the prime minister but he did not go down that road. Instead, he put his life on the line by going to Mandsaur”. Pradhan was removed from all party posts after Congress spokesperson Abhimanyu Tyagi wrote to state party chief Raj Babbar, The Hindu reported. Ramkrishna Dwivedi, chairman of the disciplinary committee in Congress said that “Vinay Pradhan is guilty of violating the constitution of Congress party.” [caption id=“attachment_3612531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] However, Pradhan texted Congress workers and said that he has done no wrong,  Navbharat Times reported. “Maine kuch galat nahi kiya. Main karyakartaon ko samjha raha tha. Uttar Pradesh ke Congress pravakta Manoj Tyagi ne high command to galat jaankari dekar kaarvayi kara di. Aaj pradesh adhyaksh Raj Babbar ke saamne paksh rakhoonga." (I have done nothing wrong. I was just trying to explain my workers good deeds of Rahul Gandhi. Congress committee spokesperson Manoj Tyagi has provided wrong information to the high command. I will meet Raj Babbar on Wednesday and explain the matter to him). Uttar Pradesh Congress has now asked all party workers to exercise caution while speaking about Rahul.  Patrika reported that Uma Shankar, president of Youth Congress, in a Whatsapp message to all Congress workers said that from now onwards Rahul should be addressed by “only his name.” “Sabhi Congress party ke karyakartaon se anurodh hai ki Sri Rahul Gandhi ji ko unke naam se hi sambodhan karein, pappu ya anya kisi naam se unka sambodhan na karein. Yadi kisi message mein unki vishesta hi batani hai toh unka sambodhan Rahul Gandhi ji kehkar hi karein. Sri Rahul Gandhi ji Congress party ke supreme leader hain, aur yuvaon ke ideal hain. Unka samman ki raksha karna hum sabhi Congress karyakartaon ka kartavya hai  (All Congress party workers are requested to not to address Rahul Gandhi by any other name. No one should refer to him by pappu or any other name but only Rahul Gandhi. If you want to praise him, refer to him as Rahul Gandhi. He is our supreme leader and ideal of youths, and it is our duty to respect his prestige).”