Congress dissolves UP unit, overhaul in other states likely

Lucknow, June 10: In the first major action after its massive drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, Congress today dissolved the state unit of politically key Uttar Pradesh signalling a drastic overhaul.

All state, district and block committees of the party in Uttar Pradesh stand dissolved, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi announced.

He, however, said that the Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nirmal Khatri will remain in the post.

The general practice in the Congress is that the incumbent PCC chief continues in the post till the successor is announced.

The Congress was decimated in Uttar Pradesh in this Lok Sabha polls, where it secured just two of the 80 Parliamentary seats won by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi from family pocketboroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had won an unexpected 22 seats. However, it has been downhill since then and the party suffered a major drubbing in 2012 Assembly election.

While Congress suffered a rout, BJP increased its tally to 71 seats from 10 in 2009.

The shake-up in Uttar Pradesh unit may be prelude to similar exercises in a number of states, where the executive wing of the party has not been reconstituted for a long time.

The units in Delhi and Haryana, where new PCC chiefs were appointed, have also been disbanded as they were continuing for a long time.

Congress recorded its worst-ever electoral performance in this election winning only 44 Lok Sabha seats, which had propelled contemplation within the party. Sonia Gandhi was recently authorised by the apex decision making body of the party Congress Working Committee to effect the changes needed to revitalise the organisation.

PTI