Even as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi embarks on his kisan yatra in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly elections, Congress legislators in the state are getting increasingly upset over the beha
Even as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi embarks on his kisan yatra in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly elections, Congress legislators in the state are getting increasingly upset over the behaviour of political strategist Prashant Kishore’s team members.
Mr Kishore’s team members have reportedly been calling up Congress legislators and “demanding” to know their credentials.
Senior Congress MLA Vivek Singh said, “Members from PK team call us up late at night and do not even know the name of our constituency. I was asked how many times I have been elected from Bandra whereas the name of my constituency is Banda. They ask for my residential address, the police circle where I live and other such absurd questions. This is my third term as MLA and I have a seriously ailing relative at home. This kind of behaviour is certainly not expected from a political party”.
Another senior Congress MLA, who did not wish to be named, said that while they were not opposed to being asked questions, but it was the brash behaviour of Mr Kishore’s team that was upsetting them.
“We are not student leaders, but senior legislators. If questions have to be asked, they can be asked in a polite and respectful manner — not in a manner that makes us feel that we are being questioned in a police station,” he said.
Congress legislature party (CLP) leader and five-term MLA Pradeep Mathur said that he had already sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss this issue since resentment among legislators was swelling up.
Another Congress MLA Pradeep Chaudhary, who joined the BJP last week, echoes similar sentiments when he said, “Why should one stay in a party where the high command remains inaccessible and outsiders (read Team PK) behave in a manner that is humiliating for any political leader I could not tolerate this kind of behaviour and decided to quit. Mr Kishore’s team members are actually ordering us what to do instead of just giving suggestions”.
It is noteworthy that till now, seven of the 29 Congress legislators in Uttar Pradesh have left the party for greener pastures.
These include Nawab Kazim Ali, Dilnawaz Khan, Mohd Muslim, Pradeep Chaudhary, Sanjay Jaiswal, Madhuri Varma and Vijay Dubey.
Incidentally, Mr Kishore’s team has now started contacting mediapersons and asking to interact directly with them.
“Prashant Kishore is a political strategist and can give his ideas and suggestion to the leaders, but he should stop trying to run a parallel organisation in Uttar Pradesh or else he will do more damage than good to the party in the Assembly polls”, said a former UPCC president.
