Kishore Upadhyay named new Congress chief in Uttarakhand

New Delhi, June 11: The

on Wednesday appointed former

minister Kishore Upadhyay as the new PCC

of the state replacing incumbent Yashpal Arya. This is the second organisational decision of the Congress in the last two days. The party had yesterday dissolved all state, district and block committees in Uttar Pradesh.

Upadhyay served as a minister in the N D Tiwari government. Besides being an MLA, he is a member in the AICC. Upadhyay belongs to the Brahmin community and his appointment is seen as an attempt by the party to represent the dominant community in the state where it had appointed Harish Rawat as chief minister replacing Vijay Bahuguna last year.

Upadhyay,a former state minister, replaced Yashpal Arya

"Consequent upon the resignation of Yashpal Arya, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal to appoint Kishore Upadhyay, ex-minister, as president of Uttarakhand Congress Committee with immediate effect," party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said in a statement. Uttarakhand Congress has had a long history of rivalry between Brahmin and Thakur leaders, something which had come to fore also when Bahuguna was made the chief minister after the party had won the state Assembly elections in March 2012.

PTI