Under fire from MPs, Khursheed meets Sonia

Faced with criticism from some party MPs over his ‘style of functioning’, UP Congress president Salman Khursheed has undertaken a quick fire-fighting exercise. He met Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday to put forth his case. Since the dissidents reportedly have the ear of the general secretary in-charge of UP, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Khursheed is looking at AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi as a mediator.

Lok Sabha members Rajesh Kumar Mishra (Varanasi), Surendra Prakash Goyal (Ghaziabad), Bijendra Singh (Aligarh) and Manvendra Singh (Mathura) have been critical of Khursheed for visiting their constituencies without their knowledge and patronising their opponents. They aired their views recently at a meeting convened by Chaturvedi at the AICC headquarters to discuss organisational elections.

‘‘I have not visited the constituencies of two of them. The other two have accompanied me in their areas,’’ Khursheed told The Indian Express. Regarding the ‘patronage’ allegedly extended to their detractors, he said he had to involve all party leaders in the organisation. He rejected Mishra’s criticism on this count. The PCC chief did not deny roping in Dwivedi to narrow down his differences with Chaturvedi. ‘‘He is a friend and there is a convergence of views on several issues between us.”

Regarding Chaturvedi, Khursheed said, ‘‘I have been an AICC general secretary too and I feel that a general secretary should not get involved in the small little things in the state.”