File photo of Congress leader Jitin Prasada
While Jitin Prasada is witnessing voices of protest and criticism within the party and right under his nose in the area of his parliamentary constituency, the question is why he decided to sign the Group-23 letter.
- CNN-News18
- Last update: August 30, 2020 12:40 PM IST
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In March 2019, a month before the Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh’s General Secretary of Congress in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi, discussed the possibility of presenting a popular Brahmin face as a party candidate against BJP stalwart Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. Her chosen man for this strategically important political gamble was Jitin Prasada.
A man of sophistication, urban charm and two terms on the union council of ministers, Prasada’s nomination was deliberate in all seriousness; one that even in his defeat could have sent a strong message to Brahmin voters across the state.
Prasada is said to have been reluctant to take the glove. Sources say the leader felt more comfortable competing from his traditional seat, Dhaurara, and did not see any solid political rationale for moving to Lucknow.
His opponents in the match claimed that he did not want to challenge BJP stalwart Rajnath Singh.
Eventually, Prasada went on to compete from the Dhaurara seat and suffered a second loss in a row. He was ranked third in the vote in the seat he had represented in 2009. His party also touched the second lowest in Uttar Pradesh’s electoral history; party veteran Sonia Gandhi is the only candidate to win from Rai Bareilly. This was the second worst performance on record by the big party, the worst in the post-emergency 1977 elections, when Congress lost all 85 undivided Uttar Pradesh seats.
In the days that followed, Priyanka Gandhi, now in charge of UP, selected her own team to lift the party out of political exile of three decades and more.
A senior party official, considered a prominent member of Team Priyanka, said: “In Uttar Pradesh, the party organization and leadership are undergoing revolutionary change. But that doesn’t mean old, established faces are being ignored. Jitin Prasada or any other stalwart needs to understand that politics cannot be a static matter, leadership and responsibilities change over time. “
Now, as Prasada is witnessing voices of protest and criticism within the party and right under his nose in the area of his parliamentary constituency, the question is why he chose to sign the Group-23 letter.
While leadership changes in the UP Congress, under the new president Ajay Kumar Lallu, and the strong intervention at the strategy level of the Priyanka Team led by the former president of the JNU student union, Sandeep Singh, has altered the Equations of many veterans within the state Congress, none except Jitin Prasada and Raj Babbar chose to sign the letter addressed to the president of Congress calling for organizational changes.
The Prasada movement, therefore, speaks volumes. When contacted by News18, he declined to comment on the issue, calling it “internal kills from my party.”
A high-ranking leader close to Prasada said: “After Sonia Gandhi made it clear that the letter does not signify bad intentions and is part of our internal democracy, the protests and criticisms of the main leaders are regrettable.”
Jitin Prasada might choose not to respond now, but some CWC members reportedly did not refrain from pointing their picks at the young leaders of Congress. At the CWC meeting, Prasada was left quite on the defensive when her colleague Ambika Soni brought up the bitter story of her father, the late Jitendra Prasada, who competed and lost to Sonia Gandhi in the elections for party chairman in 2000. .
Soni referred to a series of events to underscore internal democracy in Congress when she made a reference to how Sonia Gandhi accommodated both Jitendra Prasada and her son after winning elections for president of Congress.
The fact that the entire UP Congress passed a resolution endorsing the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, a day before the CWC meeting, has left Jitin Prasada more isolated in the party’s state politics, which is now being completely redefined by Priyanka Gandhi.
No doubt lately he has been struggling to re-mold himself as a brahmin face in the state. But recent events in Congress have changed the internal dynamics of the party.
Amid renewed hostilities and a declining level of confidence, the future looks tense and uncertain.
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