After the big announcement of appointing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Congress general secretary in-charge of Purvanchal or east Uttar Pradesh by splitting the State into two regions, the Congress is likely to follow up with more organisational changes.
With 80 Lok Sabha seats at stake, the Congress is likely to create two Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs), each to be headed by a separate chief.
Right now, the Congress’s Uttar Pradesh unit is headed by Rajya Sabha MP Raj Babbar.
And each PCC is likely to handle nine divisions of the 18 administrative units in the State.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, however, will take the final call on the blueprint, said a source familiar with the development.
Of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, 42 seats are likely to come under U.P. east that will be handled by Ms. Vadra, while the west U.P. unit, under Jyotiraditya Scindia, will have 38 Lok Sabha seats.
On Wednesday, Mr. Gandhi announced a bold step of dividing the organisational responsibilities of the politically most important State.
The Congress’s plan to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh, including formalising a role for Ms. Vadra, was such a closely held secret that even senior leaders also did not know.
Former Uttar Pradesh in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad is scheduled to travel to Lucknow and had called a meeting of leaders in Delhi on Friday.
Taken by surprise, BJP leaders have been attacking the Congress for putting ‘family first’.
“Ever since Ms. Vadra has been appointed a general secretary, we are witnessing that the maximum tremors are in the BJP,” said senior Congress leader Manish Tewari at a party briefing.
“There are many internal issues in the BJP. We would humbly like to tell the honourable Lok Sabha Speaker that the Congress party is functioning well without her advice,” added Mr. Tewari when asked to comment on a reported statement by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that the Congress was forced to field Ms. Vadra after Mr. Gandhi failed to deliver.