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Congressmen term Das’s resignation a non-event

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congressmen on Tuesday rallied behind party general secretary Rahul Gandhi and sought to dismiss Congress Member of Parliament Akhilesh Das’ resignation from the party as a “non-event” which they claimed would have no effect on the party’s political fortunes.

Mr. Das, who has been accused of running a parallel party organisation from his residence in Lucknow, barely 600 metres from the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee office, resigned from the party and also quit his Rajya Sabha seat on Tuesday. The former Mayor of Lucknow alleged that Mr. Gandhi was surrounded by a coterie and said that Congress politics in UP revolved round the party general secretary.

UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said the former M.P. was speaking more like the Chief Minister of the State, and alleged that his resignation was influenced by the compulsions of saving his business interests in the State.

Mr. Das, who is reportedly exploring the option of joining the Bahujan Samaj Party, owns management institutes, engineering colleges, a bank and two daily newspapers published from Lucknow.

Informed sources in the Congress said the countdown to his exit started from last year’s UP Assembly elections when he allegedly opposed Manzoor Ahmed’s candidature as the Congress candidate from Lucknow Central. Mr. Ahmed was Mr. Gandhi’s personal choice as the party nominee. As a consequence, Mr. Gandhi’s road show and election meeting in Yahiyaganj Park flopped.

Mr. Das’ opposition was attributed to the fact that he always had his way in the choice of candidates in Lucknow Central, Lucknow Cantonment and Lucknow East. In the 2007 polls, Sushil Dubey (Lucknow West), Murli Ahuja (Cantonment ) and Sudhir Halwasiya (Lucknow East ) belonged to the Akhilesh Das “camp”. All three lost the elections, as did Manzoor Ahmed.

Recently Mr. Das was accused by the Congress of masterminding the resignation of the party MLA from Karnailganj, Ajay Pratap Singh, and his subsequent entry into the BSP. His resignation has, meanwhile, set off a chain of action by his loyalists.

While the president of the Lucknow district unit of the Congress, Bipin Bihari Shukla, and the president of the city unit, Achal Mehrotra, have sent in their resignations to the PCC president, others like Congress MLC Naseeb Pathan and former MLC Siraj Mehndi are weighing their options.

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