Discovered by Rahul and promoted by Priyanka, How UP Cong boss Ajay Lallu is helping Gandhis reshape the party


In February 2012, when Uttar Pradesh was in the midst of an electoral battle for the state assembly, then-Member of Congress from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi, was on a whirlwind tour of the state, addressing election rallies. On one such day, while flying from one constituency to another in eastern Uttar Pradesh, his last stoppage was scheduled at Tamkuhi Raj, a Vidhan Sabha seat in the Kushinagar district.

The candidate for Congress from the seat was Ajay Kumar Lallu, a 32-year-old leader who had joined the party just a couple of months ago. Many of the bigwigs in Congress didn’t know him, and even fewer believed he could win. Guided by this opinion, a high-ranking leader who accompanied Rahul Gandhi that night advised him to skip the Tamkuhi Raj rally because it was already getting late.


THE DARK HORSE

Rahul Gandhi bypassed the council and decided to keep a promise to Lallu, a nervous young leader whose only claim to running for Congress was that he, as an independent, had won more votes than the Congressional candidate in the 2007 elections. The reason that Rahul Gandhi did not heed his assistant’s advice was because he had inputs that Lallu might surprise.

And Lallu gave a surprise. When the results came in, he emerged as the dark horse. The man who had garnered a mere 3,500 votes in 2007 had now won the seat, defeating the well-known BJP and SP candidates. The man from the backward community, who had neither a strong caste base nor the deep pockets to feed the ballot boxes, had garnered more than 53,000 votes.

Rahul Gandhi was perfect in his talent search. Ajay Kumar Lallu stood in stark contrast to everything that the leaders of Congress in recent decades had become symbolic of. He had no pedigree, no wealth, and no godfather in politics. His only investment in politics was his tireless fight for his people and his only benefit was the support and respect he had earned from them.

When Lallu became one of Vidhan Sabha’s 28 congressmen, the next few years were a poor light on the man, still trying to keep up with “congressional politics.” He had no significant position in the organization and no significant voice among his more vocal and media-savvy colleagues in the legislative assembly.

WINDS OF CHANGE

Although late, but the winds of change came in 2017. Amid the BJP saffron tsunami, all MLAs in Congress, except Lallu and Aradhna Mishra Mona, lost the Vidhan Sabha election. While Lallu was entirely a self-made success story, Mona’s victory could also be attributed to the immense political stature of her father Pramod Tiwari.

Soon after, he was appointed leader of the Congress party, now only seven members, in Vidhan Sabha. Although Priyanka Gandhi had not yet been officially appointed as general secretary in charge of the UP Congress, the elevation of Lallu as CLP leader was considered her choice.

THE PRIYANKA-LALLU TEAM GETS WINGS

In early 2019, just before the Lok Sabha elections, it was time for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to jump into politics. She was appointed National Secretary General of Congress and given the responsibility as in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Tamkuhi Raj’s MLA, Ajay Lallu, was the man continually seen alongside her in the unexplored territory of the region. From Priyanka’s “yatra boat” on the Ganges River to the demonstrations in East UP, Lallu was seen as a man engaged in political struggle with his leader. It was time to build confidence in Lallu’s image as a down-to-earth political activist. The link with Priyanka Gandhi was further consolidated.

However, Priyanka and her team, made up of new faces from both the organization and college campuses like JNU, failed to write a success story as Congress faced the second worst electoral humiliation in the general election in Uttar Pradesh. The party could win a Rai Bareilly seat. Despite the defeat, Priyanka Gandhi’s faith in her team had gained more roots.

WITH NEW RESPONSIBILITY, LALLU BEGINS THE CHANGE

In late 2019, supported by the confidence of the Gandhis and top leadership, with the will to usher in a new vigor in the party, Lallu was elevated as state party chairman. The two-term MLA appears to live up to its leader’s hopes. The party, which was not known for taking to the streets and organizing street protests, now faces the government with a new avatar.

Lallu leads the change from the front. From the issue of migrant workers during the lockdown to the ongoing political attack on the BJP over public order issues, he has been the most visible face of the resistance on the roads. It’s no wonder, then, that he has been slapped with dozens of FIRs in recent months, taken into police custody more than 30 times, and spent at least a month in jail after being arrested following the “bus controversy.” for migrant workers “in early June. .

Unbreakable and unconquered

It is rare in the history of Congress that the Gandhis have stood by and so openly endorsed any of their leaders. So when Priyanka Gandhi wrote an open letter of support for Lallu after her arrest, it came as a surprise to many. Priyanka Gandhi described their leader as’ adig aur ajay “lallu”, which means “unshakable and undefeated”. As he continued to praise his state president, the larger message to former members of Congress was clear. The letter was a signal to the rank and file of the party about the kind of organization and politics that the Gandhis now cherish.

CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE PATH

Recently, when asked by News18 about his style of politics, Lallu had said that he is humbled by the recognition he receives from his top leadership, but “I take the lead because I feel it is my responsibility to lead my workers from the front.” . “Gone are the days of lounge chair politics, especially when people are suffering so much from BJP policies,” he added.

Yet amid his new style of political activism, a persistent challenge before him and his team is to win over the elders. Many of the old school of politics within the party are not comfortable with the changes. In the run-up to the 2022 assembly elections, it is a problem that must be resolved as soon as possible.

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