Ahead of the 2027 assembly polls, big ticket changes are on the cards in the Uttar Pradesh Congress amid a buzz about simmering discontent between the party’s state president Ajay Rai and state in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam.
The Congress is not the same and this election will be the best for the party in the past 37 years. The Congress has been out of power in the state since 1989. Apart from the process to select new district and city office bearers for all 75 districts, discussions on the state leadership were a significant part of the meetings. The Congress brought in Gautam, a Dalit leader, replacing Avinash Pandey, a Brahmin face, in June 2026 as the AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh. As a five-time former MLA, Rai has spent months relentlessly travelling districts to strengthen local cadres, organising public outreach programmes and is vehement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi against whom he contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll.
Party sources say the central leadership has held multiple meetings focusing on Uttar Pradesh with national general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal for ‘Sangathan Srijan’. “The district-level office bearers are being decided for strengthening the party at the grassroots level. Rai, an upper-caste Bhumihar leader, recently completed three years in office as the state unit president in Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls in about six months from now. This was something the previous state chiefs lacked in recent years. With a Dalit leader as the incharge, the UP Congress has ensured the move caters to its once core vote bank at a time when Aradhna Mishra, the Congress Legislature Party leader, is a known Brahman face in the state. Inducting a Yadav or a Muslim at the state level may offend the Samajwadi Party, the Congress ally, which claims Muslim and Yadav voters are its core support base.
Speaking to HT, Gautam said, “Brainstorming is going on by the party leadership right now. However, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said the process for a district-level rejig is going on and it will be finalised soon. I am not aware of any state-level organisational changes,” Rai said.
