In his first reaction after being appointed as the Uttar Pradesh chief of the Congress, Ajay Kumar Lallu said his prime priority would be to change people's perception of the party by taking up issues concerning the common man.
"It would be my first priority to change people's perception of the party for which issues related to people will be raised in an effective manner both inside the Assembly as well as on the roads," he told PTI, soon after announcement of his appointment.
He thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and said he would strive to take along all party men to strengthen it in the state, where it has been relegated to the margins by the BJP.
AICC on the night of Monday, 7 October, announced Ajay as the new UPCC President, replacing Raj Babbar, and made Aradhana Misra ‘Mona’ as the leader of Congress Legislature Party, in his place.
18-Member Advisory Council to General Secretary Set Up
AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, in a press release, also said that 12 general secretaries and 24 secretaries were also appointed for the state.
Besides, an 18-member Advisory Council to general secretary and eight-member working group on strategy and planning, comprising senior leaders, has also been set up.
The 18 members include Ajay Rai, Ajay Kapoor, Mohsina Kidwai, PL Punia and RPN Singh, while the eight-member working group includes Jitin Prasada, Rajiv Shukla, Rajaram Pal, Imran Masood and Brij Lal Khabri.
The new UPCC, having a younger look, has been handpicked by Priyanka Gandhi giving preference to leaders who had been working relentlessly at the grassroots level and were prominently seen in her programmes in the recent past, party insiders said.
The new committee is much smaller than the previous one which had 500 members, they said, adding 45 per cent representation has been given to people from the backward communities, 20 per cent to Dalits, 15 per cent to Muslims and 20 per cent to upper castes.
Women have also got due representation, they added.
Lallu, a Vaishya by caste, was the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Uttar Pradesh and is a two-time MLA from Tamkuhi Raj constituency in Kushinagar, while Aradhana Misra, a Brahmin, represents Rampur Khas seat of Pratapgarh.
Aradhana Misra is daughter of senior leader and former MP Pramod Tewari.
According to a party communication, the four vice presidents are: Virender Chaudhary (UP East), Pankaj Malik (West), Laliteshpati Tripathi and Deepak Kumar for the party's frontal organisations such as NSUI and PYC.
The party communication said that 12 general secretaries include Alok Prasad Rai, Vishwa Vijay Singh, Yusuf Ali Turk and Yogesh Dixit.
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