Fresh row in expulsion of Cong veterans in UP

Lucknow, March 4 The expulsion of 11 senior Congress leaders in November, last year, has returned to haunt the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

According to party sources, Shyam Kishore Shukla, a senior member of the party's three-member disciplinary committee that had 'expelled' the 11 leaders, had quietly withdrawn the expulsion of the leaders on Tuesday evening.

However, the state leadership stopped the formal press release on the issue and the matter was stalled.

Sources said that the state leadership did not want the expelled leaders back into the party and stopped the announcement.

When contacted, Shyam Kishore Shukla said that the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was expected to be back in the state capital on Thursday and he would clarify the situation.

It may be recalled that in November last year, 11 senior Congress leaders, including former minister Ram Krishna Dwiwedi, Satyadev Tripathi, former MP Santosh Singh, former Legislator Vinod Chaudhary, Haji Siraj Mehndi, Bhoodar Narain Mishra, Hafiz Mohammad Umar, Nek Chandra Pandey, Swayam Prakash Goswami, Sanjeev Singh and Rajendra Singh Solanki, had been expelled for 'anti-party' activities.

The leaders had held a parallel meeting on the Nehru Jayanti on November 14, which was termed as an anti-party activity.

The expulsion of the veterans led to a considerable resentment within the party and the party men accused the UPCC chief of working against upper caste leaders since majority of the expelled leaders belonged to the upper castes.

The expelled leaders sent letters to Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi seeking her invention and also an appointment for a meeting. There was no response to the same.

The leaders then embarked on a state wide campaign and started mustering the support of other disgruntled party workers in all districts.

The veterans have blamed a section of the party leaders for misleading Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Congress.

( With inputs from IANS )