Congress Dissenter Jitin Prasada Faces Backlash in UP
LUCKNOW: Despite voices of dissent being quelled and Congress leaders reaffirming their faith in the Gandhis, the letter signatories seem to be facing their colleagues’ wrath. The party’s unit in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri has passed a resolution, demanding expulsion of Jitin Prasada.
“The District Congress Committee (DCC) demands that disciplinary action should be taken against all those who signed the letter and they should be expelled from the party,” stated the resolution passed by Lakhimpur Kheri district Congress committee on Wednesday. Prasada represented the Dhaurahra Lok Sabha seat, which is a part of the Lakhimpur Kheri district, in 2009.
The Lakhimpur Kheri District Congress reportedly passed a resolution demanding action against Prasad, a leader from Uttar Pradesh, and has accused his family of being against the Gandhi family. Jitender Prasad, the father of Jitin Prasada, had also unsuccessfully contested for the post of Congress president against Sonia Gandhi in the past, the DCC reportedly said.
Miffed by fresh opposition cropping up with the party, senior Congress leader and a “signatory of G-23” Kapil Sibal, criticized the move in a tweet. “Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own,” he wrote.
Sibal said that it is unfortunate that Prasada is being “officially” targeted in UP Congress. UP Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own,” he tweeted.Manish Tewari responded to Mr Sibal’s post with a single word: “Prescient!”
The development comes four days after the crucial CWC meeting, where Sonia Gandhi is said to have offered to quit, but she was urged to stay on as the interim chief. The meeting followed a letter by more than 20 party leaders demanding an “active, full-time and visible” president.
Though a large section of the leaders backed Sonia Gandhi at the nearly seven-hour virtual meeting of the Congress’ highest decision making body to discuss the pivotal leadership issue, the fault lines were clear and appeared to deepen at some points as the day progressed.
“Jitin Prasada is the only person from Uttar Pradesh to have signed the letter. His family history has been against the Gandhi family and his father Jitendra Prasad proved it by fighting elections against Sonia Gandhi.
Jitin Prasada’s father Jitendra Prasada, a veteran Congress leader, had challenged the leadership of Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi in 1999 and had also contested against her for the post of party chief. Jitendra Prasada lost the bid. He died two years later in 2002.
Despite this, Sonia Gandhi gave Jitin Prasada a Lok Sabha ticket and made him a minister. What he has done is gross indiscipline and the district Congress committee wants strict action against him and condemns his actions,” the resolution reads.
The Congress said the UP letter does not have the sanction of either Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is the central leader in charge of the state. The party’s UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, however, said: “These are the feelings of party workers, how can one stop such feelings.”
In March 2019, just before the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Prasada had rubbished rumours that he was quitting the Congress and was headed to the BJP.
(Lucknow Bureau with Agency Inputs ).
