Prasada is key man in Kesri camp

LUCKNOW, May 29: Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Jitendra Prasada is a busy man these days. With almost total influence o...

LUCKNOW, May 29: Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Jitendra Prasada is a busy man these days. With almost total influence over more than 80 per cent of the 1,242 PCC members in the State, Prasada holds the key to the election of the All India Congress Committee president. This perhaps explains why he is being woed by two heavyweight contenders for the AICC post, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.

The massive UPCC executive combined with 156 AICC members from UP comprises almost 25 per cent of the entire electoral college for the AICC chief’s election. But the suave Prasada made his predilection for the presidentship clear by filing nomination papers on behalf of Sitaram Kesri .

The presence of a large number of his supporters in the UPPCC has also cleared any bottlenecks that could have cropped up in his continuing as UPCC chief. There are indications so far that the UPCC chief’s election will be by consensus as none have mustered enough courage to contest against him.

Party insiders here suggest that Prasada has been able to keep a grip on the UPCC by giving almost 25 per cent of the total 1,242 PCC member slots to senior party leaders like Narain Dutt Tiwari, Lokpati Tripathi, Jagdambika Pal, Devendra Dwivedi and Pramod Tewari. With these leaders, known Prasada baiters, hogtied in their respective districts, the field was open for him to get his supporters enrolled in the UPCC.

However, souces allege that the massive membership drive by Congressmen throughout the state was carried out in an unfair manner. According to state Congress leaders, as many as 67 lakh people have opted to become party members throughout the State.

Ironically, India’s grand old party’ could not even bag half the total votes in the previous Lok Sabha elections.