A few months ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, the political exodus for the Congress seems endless as two more senior leaders announced their split from the party on Tuesday. Considered close to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Harendra Malik resigned from the party along with state vice-president and former MLA Pankaj Malik after Priyanka announced 40% of tickets to women in the party for the 2022 UP elections. The departure of Harendra and Pankaj is being seen as a big setback for the party.
The father-son duo has not said anything about their next move, but speculations are rife that they may soon join the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. The Malik family hails from Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh and it is being speculated that they may join the SP in Yadav’s presence on October 22, the day the latter is scheduled to address a massive rally.
After resigning from the Congress party, Harendra, while talking to the media, accused people close to Priyanka of hijacking the party. Priyanka was supposed to start the Pratigya Yatra from Saharanpur from October 17, but due to lack of support from the Congress leaders of the area, this program could not start. Meanwhile, speculations were rife about Congress leader Imran Masood also joining the SP ahead of the 2022 elections. Masood recently gave a statement in favor of SP and said that only Samajwadi Party can defeat BJP in UP.
Harendra started his political career with former RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh; At that time he was in Janata Dal. Malik first became an MLA from Khatauni in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket. After this he was elected MLA from Lok Dal from Baghra seat of Muzaffarnagar. Later, he moved to the Samajwadi Party, after which he became a Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana from the Indian National Lok Dal. Later he went to Congress and contested the last Lok Sabha election from Kairana but lost. His son Pankaj has been MLA twice. Harendra has sent his resignation to Sonia Gandhi and Pankaj has sent his resignation to UP Congress President.
Several senior Congress leaders including Jitin Prasad, Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushmita Dev etc. have recently resigned from the Congress and moved to other parties. One thing that was common to most defectors was allegations of being sidelined and ignored in the party. At the same time, many senior Congress leaders have expressed concern about the behavior of people close to Priyanka Gandhi.
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