New Delhi, June 27: The Congress Party has appointed Rajendra Pal Gautam as the new in-charge for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled for next year. This announcement was made on Friday by K.C. Venugopal, the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Gautam replaces Ajay Kumar Lallu in this crucial role. Voters in the BJP-ruled state will elect 403 new assembly members around April 2027. In the 2022 assembly elections, Congress managed to win only two seats.
In addition to Uttar Pradesh, Congress has also appointed new AICC in-charges for Odisha and Haryana.
A note signed by Venugopal stated, “The Congress President has appointed Sanjay Dutt (Haryana), Lalji Desai (Odisha), and Rajendra Pal Gautam (Uttar Pradesh) as AICC in-charges for these states with immediate effect.”
Venugopal acknowledged the contributions of outgoing General Secretaries/In-Charges Avinash Pandey, B.K. Hariprasad, and Ajay Kumar Lallu.
The appointment of the new AICC in-charge for Uttar Pradesh comes at a time when the party has raised concerns regarding alleged financial irregularities related to donations for the Ayodhya Ram Temple and issues surrounding the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust.
Ajay Rai, President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, and Aradhana Mishra, leader of the UP Congress Legislative Party (CLP), recently claimed during a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi that funds donated by devotees and assets associated with the Ram Temple project have been mismanaged. They have called for a thorough audit of the Trust’s operations.
Rai stated that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the matter was inadequate and lacked a defined timeline. He also raised concerns about the appointment of controversial officials to the investigation team.
He demanded that the investigation be completed within 7 to 10 days and be monitored by a sitting judge of the High Court. Rai alleged that there were discrepancies at multiple levels, including fundraising, land transactions, and the management of offerings made by devotees. He claimed that this issue is linked to the systematic and organized misuse of resources.
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