UP: In major overhaul, Congress names new district, city unit presidents

New Delhi: In a major shake up, Congress tonight announced the names of its district and city unit presidents in all 72 districts, two and half months after it dissolved all party units in the politically key state of Uttar Pradesh. This is the first major overhaul in the party after its massive drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls. [caption id=“attachment_1683227” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The changes come after the AK Antony panel, which probed the reasons for the debacle, submitted its report to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on 14 August and cited organisational weakness as one of the causes for the defeat. “Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the list of District and City Congress Committee Presidents in UP,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a release. More than 30 Muslims find place in the list of 117 party leaders, who will be charing the different units. The party has also ensured representation upper castes, OBCs and Dalits in the committees. Signalling a drastic overhaul, the party had on 10 June dissolved all state, district and block committees of the party in the state. Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Nirmal Khatri continues in the post for the time being but a change of guard cannot be ruled out. The general practice in the Congress is that the incumbent PCC chief continues in the post till a successor is announced. The Congress was decimated in Uttar Pradesh, where it secured just two of the 80 parliamentary seats, with Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi winning from family pocketboroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had won 22 seats. However, it has been downhill since then and the party suffered a major drubbing in 2012 Assembly election too. While Congress suffered a rout, BJP increased its tally to 71 seats from 10 in 2009. The shake-up in Uttar Pradesh unit may be the prelude to similar exercises in a number of states. Congress recorded its worst-ever electoral performance in this election winning only 44 Lok Sabha seats. PTI