In a surprise move, the Congress leadership on Thursday appointed former MLA Ajay Rai as the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
Indian National Congress president Malikarjun Kharge appointed Rai as the new UPCC chief, replacing Brijlal Khabri.
Giving this information here on Thursday, UP Congress media convener and spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said that Ajay Rai came from Varanasi in Purvanchal region and he had been Congress MLA.
Rai had contested the parliamentary election from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi but had lost.
Meanwhile, the party’s old loyalists were happy with the decision, claiming that now the party would be headed by a veteran leader who would work on party ideology and strengthen the party’s base at the ground level.
They said that Brijlal Khabri was very new to the Congress and as he came from Bahujan Samaj Party, he was unaware of the core members and was running the party organisation with the help of those who had also left the BSP and joined the Congress recently.
