The Congress appointed Ram Raj Gond as the district chief in Sonbhadra, who was instrumental in Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's agitation recently. Gond belongs to the same village of Umbha where 11 tribals were massacred in a land dispute. The police has chargesheeted 51 persons.
The list of new appointments was released by party General Secretary (Organisation) K. C. Venugopal. The release says that the interim Congress President has approved the new appointments.
The average age of the new office-bearers is 42 years. Fourteen per cent of the new appointees are Dalits, 33 per cent Other Backward Classes, 35 per cent Forward Caste and 18 per cent Muslims.
Congress Secretary Dheeraj Gurjar told , "these people have been appointed after many rounds of scrutiny. Priyanka ji also met them in the past."
The party is to appoint 33 more District Presidents. Uttar Pradesh has 80 districts in total. The party has not appointed District Congress Chiefs in Lucknow, Gonda, Moradabad, Kanpur and Bareilly.
After the appointments, the UP Congress Committee was supposed to organise brain storming and training sessions from October 14. But due to the delay in the announcements of District Chiefs, the programme was postponed. It is expected to start on October 22 now.
In UP, the Congress is trying to place itself as the principal opposition party. Party spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi told that "only Congress is on the streets against the anti-people government."
On Saturday, new UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu had met party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and interim President Sonia Gandhi. Sonia had advised Lallu to work with zeal and involve everybody to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. She had also asked him to give a chance to new people.
Priyanka has been attacking the Yogi Adityanath government on various issues. She wants the party to be seen fighting on the streets for the people, said a leader.
The Congress was decimated in the Lok Sabha elections with just Sonia Gandhi managing to win a lone seat from the state. The party had 23 MPs from the state in 2009. But the grand old party has lost it grip. It is also out of power in the state since 1989.
( With inputs from IANS )