Voices of dissent emerge in UP Congress

Lucknow: Voices of dissent have started emerging in the Uttar Pradesh Congress over the selection of candidates for the upcoming by-elections and also the possibility of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ajay Kumar Lallu being appointed as the state Congress Committee (UPCC) chief.
The Hamirpur Assembly bypoll is scheduled on September 23, while the date of by-elections to the remaining 12 seats is yet to be announced. With the bypolls for the 13 Assembly seats inching closer, resentment in the party’s state unit is growing over its handling of the upcoming bypolls and the selection of candidates.
Acharya Pramod Krishnam, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow on a Congress ticket, hit out at the party leadership for not discussing the candidates with him. “The candidate for Lucknow Cantonment seat was taken without any consultation with me. I will write to AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi about it,” he said.
The Lucknow Cantonment Assembly seat was vacated by Rita Bahuguna Joshi after she won the Lok Sabha election, prompting a by-election to the constituency.
“The Congress candidate from Lucknow Cantonment, Dilpreet Singh, has started campaigning, but many leaders are unhappy with his selection and have written to Sonia Gandhi about it,” said a senior Congress leader.
An in-charge has been appointed in every constituency going for the Assembly bypoll.