Uttar Pradesh’s new Cong president takes charge

Taking charge as the new state president of Uttar Pradesh Congress, the MP from Faizabad, Nirmal Khatri introduced the zonal system in the paty dividing the state into eight parts each taking charge of 10 constituencies each.

‘Get ready for a bigger battle,’ he told party workers who had gathered in a large number to welcome their new president. ‘We lost assembly but will do better in the Lok Sabha elections,’ he declared.

Moving away from the traditions Khatri reached the state party office without any pomp and show though workers showered flower petals on him at the party office gate.

In his  almost an hour long speech, Khatri tried to infuse new zest in to the party's workings and asked them to be more disciplined and dedicated. ‘I don't want your blood. But I expect you to work for the people's cause. And that would be enough for the party to regain its lost glory,’ he said.

‘The new zonal system would  re-organise the party at the grass root level. The heads of these eight zones would be in-charge of 10 Lok Sabha constituencies. Their word on selection of candidates would be final,’he said each,’ he said.

He also announced names of the zonal heads. Rashid Masood, P L Puna, Jitin Prasada, Raja Ram Pal, Anugarh Narain Singh, Vivek Kumar Singh, Brajendra Singh and RPN Singh were the new zonal heads announced. 

Khatri said that the new zonal heads would start working soon and within 3-4 days their areas would be identified. 'The first work of these people would be to restructure the organisation in their respective areas,' he said. His pep talks were peppered with warnings too as he asked the leaders to highlight their agitation through the media instead projecting themselves.