UP Congress’ minority cell passes resolution: ‘make Rahul party chief’

WATCH VIDEO: 5 States, 1 Script: Congress Leaders Do Not Listen

The meeting was attended by about 50 office bearers from different parts of the state. The leaders, sources said, “unanimously” spoke about the “need to speed up the process of Rahul Gandhi taking charge as national president” of the party.

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“Since the issue was raised by everyone, we decided to pass a resolution and send it to the AICC minority department as well as PCC chief Nirmal Khatri. There should be no controversy over the resolution as many senior leaders including Capt Amrinder Singh, Jai Ram Ramesh and even Rita Bahuguna Joshi have spoken about elevating Rahul Gandhi to the top post. It is just that we decided to pass a resolution for the same,” Mehndi told The Indian Express, adding that the resolution will be sent to AICC and PCC on Tuesday.

He further said that the move “should not be seen” as an attempt to undermine incumbent party president Sonia Gandhi. “We trust her leadership but at the same time workers feel that the prevailing state of confusion (over Rahul Gandhi’s elevation) should be removed as soon as possible, which would be better for the party both nationally as well as in UP,” he added.

The state leadership, however, immediately distanced itself from the move saying it was “beyond the purview of a department” to pass a resolution about the national president. “I have nothing to say on what they have resolved.

They are an independent department and only they can best respond to queries on their decision,” state party president Nirmal Khatri said.

On the other hand, Khurshid Ahmed Saiyed, chairman of AICC minority department, said that while the resolution was yet to reach him, the state minority department “was competent enough to express the opinion of its workers” and it should not be seen as anything “beyond the voice of workers”.

“We are a democratic party and not like the BJP. The move of the state minority wing should be taken in a positive spirit as there is nothing wrong in expressing opinion of workers in any form. We give platform to our workers to speak. Moreover, the idea is noble and this is what workers feel,” Ahmed said.