Cong leaders spar at Mistry’s meet

LUCKNOW: A section of party leaders got involved in a spat over distribution of party tickets in Uttar Pradesh during a meeting of the Lucknow district Congress here on Wednesday.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who is in charge of party affairs in UP, was presiding over the meeting of Lucknow City office bearers when party leader Baldev Chaudhary said the Congress was imposing outsiders while distributing tickets for Lucknow seats.

Chaudhary appeared to be indicating at Indian Youth Congress secretary Harshvardhan Shyam, who was fielded from the Mohanlalganj seat in the 2012 assembly elections.

Another party leader, however, countered this, saying Chaudhary had contested the poll on a Trinamool Congress ticket. Thus, Chaudhary should not point fingers at others, said the party leader. At this, some voices were raised in favour of Chaudhary as well, evoking protests from others. As the din continued for some time, the meeting was cancelled to restore peace. Mistry later addressed a meeting of party spokespersons and left for Faizabad.

He had separate meetings with the party leaders from Faizabad and Ambedkar Nagar. The party leaders demanded that the union ministers from the state should visit various areas and meet the block level workers to strengthen the party. The leaders also said the UPA government should focus on controlling inflation and ensure that its welfare programmes for minorities and other sections of the society reached the people.

Besides Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Nirmal Khatri, party MP Kamal Kishore Commando was present at the meeting. Speaking to media persons, Mistry later said by raising the temple issue the BJP was trying to vitiate the communal atmosphere.