In an effort to take the Congress to the grassroots in Uttar Pradesh, a team of about 80 to 100 leaders have begun camping in different districts for the party’s “sangathan srajan” programme, which was launched on January 3. The programme runs till January 25.
Under the programme, the party proposes to set up its units in all the 8,000 ‘nyay panchayats’ wards in urban areas to bolster the party’s chances in the state polls to be held next year.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is monitoring the exercise and may soon visit a district in any zone to make an on-the-spot assessment.
“We are following the exercise of setting up and holding meetings of nearly 8,000 nyay panchayat units under the programme. This programme has been organised all over the state at the behest of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. We also propose to set up nearly 60,000 village level units by next month,” said UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu who camped in Sultanpur and Faizabad districts on Thursday.
Lallu though did not give any programme of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s visit but said there were indications of her visit to any district soon.
Five All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretaries Jubair Khan, Dheeraj Gujar, Bajirao Khade, Sachin Naik and Rohit Chaudhary along with teams of UPCC office bearers and other youth leaders have also begun camping in districts allotted to them.
“We are closely following the exercise. No meeting of nyay panchayat is considered complete unless attendance of party’s representatives of all the villages under the respective nyay panchayat is verified. As nyay panchayats will lead to setting up of nearly 20,575 member committees in 823 blocks of the state the party will have a verified and committed team of more than 28,000 leaders ready at the grassroots level soon,” said UPCC organisation secretary Anil Yadav.
Besides setting up the units at nyay panchayat levels, the Congress also proposes to focus on setting up ward units in the cities.
Yadav said, “Our city units have begun setting up party structures at the ward levels. We hope to complete the same after completion of nyay panchayat level exercise.”
Taking a cue from the exercise being carried out in rural areas the city unit presidents in many districts have already begun setting up ward units.
“We have already set up our units in 45 out of 110 wards. We will complete the exercise in all the wards by the deadline,” said Lucknow City Congress Committee president Mukesh Chauhan.
As the Congress proposes to change its district president in some districts, the announcement about setting up nyay panchayat units there may be delayed.
“Four district units may see new presidents soon. Any announcement about setting up the nyay panchayat units or the ward units in these districts may not be made now,” said an office bearer.
