BJP, Congress, RLD 'headless' after Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls; most parties yet to appoint state chiefs

Image courtesy: ANI

Lucknow: Major political parties in Uttar Pradesh are `headless` even after it has been two months since the Assembly results were announced. The BJP, Congress, and Rashtriya Lok Dal are among the parties that do not have a state head at present.

Most parties are working out caste arithmetic for the next Lok Sabha elections before they appoint a state head. Some are even waiting for rival parties to announce their state presidents before they do so.

The BJP, for instance, is working out caste equations before it announces the name of its state president. The present state president Swatantra Dev Singh has been inducted into the council of ministers and the party, for all practical purposes, is headless.

As the BJP strictly adheres to the principle of `one man one post`, a new face is sure to take command of the state organisation soon. The party`s focus is on managing caste balances for the 2024 elections and it is this factor that will decide the name of the new state chief.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu was asked to resign in March after the party faced its worst-ever debacle in Uttar Pradesh. Party sources claim that some leaders have even been shortlisted to revive the party, but most of them have expressed reservations about working under Priyanka Gandhi Vadra`s coterie.

The party remains in a state of inertia in Uttar Pradesh for the past two months and even the general secretary in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has kept away from the state.

Rashtriya Lok Dal state president Dr Masood Ahmad resigned immediately after the announcement of the Assembly results in March. He levelled serious allegations against the party leadership before leaving. The RLD leadership, since then, has not found a suitable successor to Dr Masood Ahmad and the party also remains headless.

If sources are to be believed, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is also planning a major revamp. SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel is expected to be elevated to the national level and the party wants a younger and more energetic leader to head the state. The decision on this is pending.

The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL) is also headless at the moment. PSPL president Shivpal Yadav dissolved all organisational units a few weeks ago. Last week, he appointed heads of various frontal units but did not name a new state president.

Sources said that Shivpal would first decide his future course of action in politics before naming a state president.