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Dalit leader appointed UPCC president
Former MP Brijlal Khabri’s appointment as state Congress president is being considered a move by the party to focus more on Dalits to make deep inroads in the BSP’s support base and regain its support among the downtrodden classes in Uttar Pradesh.
Lucknow: Former MP Brijlal Khabri, a Dalit, was appointed as the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday.
A former BSP leader from Khabri village of Jalaun (Bundelkhand), Brijlal Khabri joined the Congress in 2016.
The UPCC president’s post had been lying vacant for more than six months.
Known for his strong organizational skills, Khabri had worked closely with BSP founder late Kanshi Ram. His appointment as Congress state president is being considered a move by the party to focus more on Dalits to make deep inroads in the BSP’s support base and regain its support among the downtrodden classes in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress’ move to appoint a Dalit as state president comes when two major political parties, the BJP and the SP, have opted for OBC leaders as state party presidents. While the BJP recently appointed Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary as the state BJP chief, the Samajwadi Party early this week re-elected Naresh Uttam Patel as the president of its state unit.
“The BSP is apparently losing its support base. Under such circumstances, the Samajwadi Party is making efforts to woo the BSP’s Dalit vote bank. The Congress too wants to regain its political base among the Dalits now. The Congress will, however, have to strengthen its organizational structure to gain any benefits in the prevailing situation,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.
The Congress has also made a bid to strike a caste balance though more would be clear when the party announces team of office-bearers to assist Khabri. Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ comes from Brahmin community. Former UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who resigned from his post following the party’s debacle in 2022 assembly elections, was from the OBC community. The party has now appointed six senior leaders as zonal presidents and two of them are from the OBC community. This is for the first time that the UPCC will have six zones.
Besides Naseemuddin Siddiqui, these include two OBC leaders Virendra Chaudhary and Anil Yadav, two Brahmins Nakul Dubey and Yogesh Dixit and Ajay Rai (a Bhumihar). Will the move to have six zones of UPCC help? “The new UPCC will have to take different factions in the party along,” said a senior party leader.
Besides new UPCC president Khabri, the two new zonal presidents Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Nakul Dubey too are former BSP leaders. Khabri and his wife Urmila Sonkar, a former PCS officer, had contested and lost the 2022 UP assembly elections on Congress ticket. “All the party leaders are happy with the appointment and have thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the same,” said UPCC spokesman Ashok Singh.
“Brijlal Khabri is a big Dalit face and his appointment as UPCC chief will strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh,” said CLP leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’.
