With Congress chief Rahul Gandhi deciding to remove Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief and form a new team to revive the outfit in the state ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the change of guard could be very prompt.
The conjecture gains credence as grapevine has it that UPCC chief Raj Babbar has conveyed his willingness to focus on fighting poll than carry the gargantuan yoke of party responsibility.
Congress sources confirmed that UPCC could have a new head anytime soon as the party chief was decided on the issue and that was why he did not clear the Congress state committee or even district and city committees.
“Babbar met Rahul Gandhi and expressed willingness to step down as state party chief as he intended to focus on fighting the 2019 Parliament elections and hence nurse his constituency,” said a Congress leader.
“Rahul had already decided on the issue and hence Babbar could be relieved but his ‘star appeal’ could be used during campaigning ahead of the Parliament poll.
Sources also confirmed that Babbar was likely to contest the 2019 Parliament poll from Lucknow and has started preparing his ground for the same. Earlier in the mid 90’s, Babbar had contested from Lucknow against then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but lost.
Just a few days back during ‘Ram Dhun’ campaign to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, Babbar walked several miles with local leaders to strike a rapport with the people of Lucknow. He also spent some time at a tea stall in Lalbagh in the evening and had a cuppa and shared his views with some eminent personalities of the city.
To prepare a team specifically for poll purpose in Lucknow, Babbar started handing over responsibilities to local leaders besides nominating a large number of social activists from Lucknow in the UPCC media team. For this, Babbar even ignored the AICC criteria of a written test for selecting the media team members.