Ahead of the 2027 UP assembly polls, the Congress on Friday replaced upper caste (a Brahmin) Avinash Pande with a Dalit Rajendra Pal Gautam as All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Uttar Pradesh.
The appointment of Gautam, currently chairman of AICC’s SC wing, reflects the Congress leadership’s strategy to strengthen its social justice agenda and expand outreach among Dalit, backward, and marginalised communities.
KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary, in a letter on Friday appointed Gautam as the AICC in-charge for UP; Sanjay Dutt for Haryana and Lalji Desai for Odisha. The decision comes amid speculations that UP Congress chief Ajay Rai will be replaced.
According to party sources, Gautam has been brought to fine-tune caste equations ahead of the UP polls. Following the success in the Lok Sabha elections through the ‘Save the Constitution’ and ‘PDA’ (Backward, Dalit, Minority) narratives, the Congress wanted to implement the same model of social engineering within its organisation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been consistently raising the issues of a caste census and the principle of “representation in proportion to population.” State Congress president and AICC in-charge were both upper caste leaders, which the party wanted to change in the politically sensitive state.
{{/usCountry}}Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been consistently raising the issues of a caste census and the principle of “representation in proportion to population.” State Congress president and AICC in-charge were both upper caste leaders, which the party wanted to change in the politically sensitive state.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, Gautam was with the Bahujan Samaj Party and was close to Kanshi Ram. He worked for Dalit rights. Later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party and served as a minister in the Kejriwal government. Gautam joined the Congress in September 2024.