THE CHARISMA of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi has failed to check infighting in the Congress party. If anything, it has intensified, especially in the eastern UP and the incident of scuffle between Congress leaders in the presence of senior party leaders has raised the eyebrow of State party president Salman Khurshid.
Khursheed was in Maharajganj district of the division to participate in a party workers conference on Monday when the supporters of two former MPs Jitendra Singh and Harshvardhan Singh, clashed with each other and levelled serious allegations.
Congress president Salman Khurshid and senior party leader Rampujan Patel tried to intervene but the situation remained beyond control and the State president could not address the workers.
Supporters of the two MPs raised slogans against each other when former MP Harshvardhan was delivering his views. Singh alleged senior leaders had to decide who was more suitable to revive the party in this region. He even said that he preferred to intensively tour Maharajganj instead of making rounds of senior party leaders.
Making a counter attack, former MP Jitendra Singh claimed he was in the Congress for the last 30 years while Harshvardhan was a new entrant who joined the party seven year ago. The statement added fuel to the fire and the supporters of Harshvardhan retorted that Harshvardhan had secured 1.48 lakh votes in the last Parliamentary elections while Jitendra Singh could get only 38000 votes.
It was not the first instance of scuffle between Congress workers in the presence of senior party leaders in the district. Earlier on June 22, a workers conference was organised at Bansgaon where senior party leader Kamal Kishor was beaten up by the supporters of Union Minister Mahavir Prasad and police personnel.
{{/usCountry}}It was not the first instance of scuffle between Congress workers in the presence of senior party leaders in the district. Earlier on June 22, a workers conference was organised at Bansgaon where senior party leader Kamal Kishor was beaten up by the supporters of Union Minister Mahavir Prasad and police personnel.
{{/usCountry}}The nomination of new district president who originally belongs to some other district has made matters worse. Senior party leader and organising secretary Anshuman Singh blamed Union Minister Mahavir Prasad for weakening the party in the region for his vested interest.