In UP, Ajay Rai was abruptly replaced by Mishra while Saharanpur MP Imran Masood was named working president.
LUCKNOW/CHANDIGARH: Congress overhauled its PCC brass in two poll-bound states Friday, installing Rampur Khas MLA Aradhana “Mona” Mishra as the UP unit chief and hockey Olympian Pargat Singh as state president in Punjab, with each pick engineered around caste arithmetic ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
Her being the face of the state Congress could make coordination between the two parties smoother,” a source said, though the two INDIA bloc partners are yet to settle their 2027 arrangement. Pargat (61) was seen with the Channi camp during the July-Aug crisis but pushed for consensus and direct talks with the party brass. In UP, Ajay Rai was abruptly replaced by Mishra while Saharanpur MP Imran Masood was named working president. The pairing brings together a Brahmin face from eastern UP and a Muslim with influence in the west, striking a caste-regional balance the party rounded out by appointing Rajendra Pal Gautam, a Dalit, as state in-charge. Mishra’s rapport with SP as seat-sharing talks gather pace is seen as a significant factor in the party making its choice. “Unlike Ajay Rai, Mishra has maintained an amicable equation with the SP brass. Struggling to contain factionalism, the party settled on a Jat Sikh face acceptable to both camps. A three-time MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment, Padma Shri and Arjuna awardee, he was picked over former minister Vijay Inder Singla and former Speaker Rana KP Singh.