The announcement of the UP Pradesh Congress executive committee has started generating considerable heat in the party circles.
The 51-member committee is filled with regional imbalances and over 20 districts have gone completely unrepresented.
The executive committee, on one hand, smacks of the supremacy of UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and, on the other, rings hollow when it comes to claims made by the Congress.
The Congress, in the formation of the executive committee, has given preference to “outsiders” while party cadres and veterans have been ignored.
The party has also accommodated “tainted leaders”, prominently among them being Sardar Daljit Singh, an accused in the foodgrain scam, and former UP minister Merajuddin, who was made to resign after his name figured in the Kavita Choudhury sex scandal and murder case.
Supporters of CLP leader Pramod Tiwari and former UPCC president Salman Khurshid have been left out while Salim Shervani (from Samajwadi Party), Ramesh Chandra Tomar (from BJP), Virendra Singh (from BJP), Balihari Babu (from BSP) and Ajeya Singh (from Jan Morcha) have been included in the executive committee.
Another surprise inclusion is Snehlata Pal, wife of Congress MP Jagdambika Pal and mother of wannabe Congress leader Abhishek Pal. Ms Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s brother, Shekhar Bahuguna, has found a place in the committee.
Not a single supporter of Congress MP Raj Babbar, the man who catapulted Congress to a historic win in Ferozabad in the bypoll, has been included in the committee.