The Congress may have just acquired a new chief in Uttar Pradesh, but its problems remain the same. Today, former state Mahila Congress president and a close aide of Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari, Ranjana Bajpayee, switched over to the Samajwadi Party (SP) along with a large number of her followers.An AICC member hailing from Allahabad, Bajpayee is the daughter-in-law of senior Congress leader and late governor Rajendra Kumari Bajpayee. She said she, and her followers, were feeling uncomfortable in the Congress after it digressed from its ideology and values. ‘‘I decided to join the SP as there is no alternative to the SP, which is fighting for the cause of the common people.’’Terming SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav a true disciple of Ram Manohar Lohia, she said more senior leaders of the Congress were likely to join him at a function to be held in Allahabad.Mulayam, who was present at the function where Bajpayee was inducted into the party, said it was under pressure from the Sangh Parivar that a hardliner like L.K. Advani had been appointed as the country’s Deputy Prime Minister. ‘‘The Parivar wants Advani to succeed Atal Bihari Vajpayee and that day is not far off,’’ he claimed.
