2027-ലെ ഉത്തർപ്രദേശ് നിയമസഭാ തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് മുന്നിൽക്കണ്ട് സംഘടനാ സംവിധാനം ശക്തിപ്പെടുത്താൻ കോൺഗ്രസ്. ബ്രാഹ്മണ, മുസ്ലിം, ദളിത്, പിന്നാക്ക വിഭാഗങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുള്ള നേതാക്കളെ പ്രധാന സ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ നിയമിച്ചു. രാഹുൽ ഗാന്ധിയുമായി സ്വാമി പ്രസാദ് മൗര്യ ചർച്ചകൾ നടത്തി. വിവിധ വിഭാഗങ്ങളെ ഒന്നിപ്പിച്ച് സംസ്ഥാനത്ത് അടിത്തറ വിപുലീകരിക്കാനാണ് പാർട്ടി ശ്രമിക്കുന്നത്.
The Congress is working on a strategy to rebuild its organisation and social coalition in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, with its latest organisational reshuffle bringing leaders from the Brahmin, Muslim, Dalit and extremely backward class communities into key positions, PTI reported.
The party on Friday appointed Aradhana Mishra 'Mona' as Uttar Pradesh Congress president and MP Imran Masood as working president. While Mishra is a Brahmin, Masood is a Muslim.
The Congress also appointed Devendra Nishad, who belongs to the extremely backward fishing community, and Dalit leader Alok Prasad as senior vice-presidents of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
Political analysts see the appointments and the efforts to bring leaders from different social groups into the party as part of a broader strategy to rebuild its organisation and electoral base in the state, according to PTI.
Dr Syed Jamal Ahmed, an All India Congress Committee member and former general secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, said the party stood for taking along people from all sections of society and claimed there was growing public expectation from its leadership.
Ahmed also claimed that several leaders from different communities, including Brahmins, minorities, extremely backward classes and Dalits, were likely to join the Congress in the near future.
The Congress' efforts to expand its political base were also evident on Saturday, when Apna Janata Party president and former minister Swami Prasad Maurya held talks with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on joining the INDIA bloc.
Maurya said in a post on X that he had a "positive discussion" with Gandhi on contesting the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together under the INDIA bloc.
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The Uttar Pradesh Congress unit also announced the return of Shyam Sunder Sharma, an eight-time former MLA from Mathura's Mant constituency.
Sharma joined the Congress in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera, party general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in-charge Syed Naseer Hussain, and former Union minister Rajeev Shukla at the party's Delhi office.
The Congress described Sharma as a prominent political figure in Mathura and said his return would strengthen the party not only in the district but across western Uttar Pradesh.
Sharma first won the Mant Assembly seat on a Congress ticket in 1989 and was re-elected in 1991 and 1993. He later remained associated with the Loktantrik Congress, Trinamool Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Maurya, who has served as a minister in governments led by both the BJP and BSP, had allied with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Assembly elections. He later resigned from the Legislative Council amid differences with the SP and formed his own Apna Janata Party.
The Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit also said more than 114 prominent leaders and office-bearers from different parties joined the party on Saturday in the presence of Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam.
Among those who joined were former Bahraich municipal chairman Haji Rehan Khan Arhti, senior OBC leader Ramveer Chaudhary, former AAP North East Lok Sabha in-charge Mehboob Malik and Delhi unit Ansari community leader Nasir Ansari, PTI reported.