New Delhi: The Indian National Congress on Saturday appointed Brijlal Khabri as chief of its Uttar Pradesh unit, as reported by the news agency PTI. AICC president Sonia Gandhi also appointed six regional heads in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
The regional heads are Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Ajai Rai, Virendra Chaudhary, Nakul Dubey, Anil Yadav and Yogesh Dixit. The appointments come months after Ajay Lallu resigned as the state unit chief following the party’s crushing defeat in the assembly elections held earlier this year. Congress managed to win only 2 seats in the UP Assembly elections 2022.
Khabri had quit the BSP in 2016 alleging sale of tickets for money and joined the Congress. He is a former MP from Jalaun constituency, which he won in 1999 as a member of BSP. The UP PCC chief post was lying vacant since party president Sonia Gandhi asked the state chiefs of five states to resign after defeat in elections.
Congress faced a debacle in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab assembly elections.
Meanwhile on Friday, Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha filed his nomination at the headquarters of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Delhi. After senior leader Digvijay Singh withdrew from the Congress presidential election, Kharge announced that he will run for party head. “I am fighting for big change,” Kharge was quoted by PTI on its official Twitter handle.
Senior Congress leader and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday filed his nomination for the Congress president’s post at AICC’s office in Delhi, news agency ANI reported. The date of scrutiny of the nomination papers would be October 1. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. In case of more than one candidate, voting will be held on October 17 and results will be declared on October 19.
(With ANI, PTI Inputs)