The Congress party has finally appointed senior leader Avinash Pandey as general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in place of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
After remaining party general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh for two years, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra handed in her resignation following the worst ever defeat of the Congress in UP assembly elections in 2022 but no one had replaced her.
It may be mentioned that ‘The Pioneer’ in its Saturday (December 23) edition had reported that AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remained in-charge of UP just on paper as she had stopped from participating in any activity or meeting since she claimed to have put up her resignation paper after the defeat of the party in last UP assembly elections.
Responding to his appointment, Avinash Pandey wrote in a post on X, “I pledge to carry forward the legacy of Priyanka Gandhi. As general secretary in-charge, I will discharge the powers vested in my post and the responsibility given to me. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had earlier overseen Uttar Pradesh, has not been assigned any portfolio.”
“She (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) is an important leader in our national campaign for the 2024 election. Keeping her larger role and responsibilities in mind, she has not been assigned any particular state,” a Kharge aide said, declining to be named.
Avinash Pandey, 65, has been a Youth Congress leader and has held the post of general secretary in the Indian Youth Congress when Maninder Singh Bitta was the chief of the organisation. He also had been an MLC in Maharashtra. In 2008 he unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha poll from Maharashtra against industrialist Rahul Bajaj. Later, when he was nominated by the Congress for Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2010, he was elected unopposed. He has been the party general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand Congress since January last year.
Welcoming Pandey’s appointment, UP Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai in a statement said, “Avinash Pandey is a senior and experienced leader in the Congress and under his guidance and leadership, we will make Congress succeed in 2024 (Lok Sabha polls) in UP in an unprecedented manner.”
“For all practical purposes, Priyanka had already withdrawn herself from Uttar Pradesh in-charge responsibilities for her larger role and responsibility nationwide. Priyanka is a very big leader and she had worked hard and strengthened the party and had enthused the cadre in her role as the UP in-charge,” claimed one of the spokesmen of Uttar Pradesh Congress.
“Because she had always been busy countrywide, she obviously could not be as accessible as the new in-charge Avinash Pandey would be. So we hope that Avinash will further strengthen the party,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress is overhauling its entire leadership in Uttar Pradesh. Recently, Ajay Rai was given the command of Uttar Pradesh and made the state president of the party. Under his leadership, a new state executive of the party has also been formed in which 16 vice-presidents, 38 general secretaries and 76 secretaries have been appointed.
Congress now seems to be giving more importance to youth in the new team. About 67 per cent of the office-bearers are below 50 years of age. Congress has also tried to solve the caste equation by giving leadership opportunities to extremely backward classes, other backward classes, Dalits and minorities. At the same time, it is also continuously giving the major responsibility of UP in the hands of Brahmins and the general class.
With Avinash Pandey getting a big responsibility in UP after Ajay Rai, it has become clear that Congress is now focusing on caste equations with his help. Pandey is not only the young Brahmin face of the party but is also familiar with the politics of UP. It is believed that he belongs to the Rahul Gandhi camp. He used to be the co-in-charge in UP when senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry was in-charge of UP. Since he has worked in UP before, the politics of UP is not new for him. He is aware of the caste equation in the state.
