UP Congress faced two more defeats: Priyanka Gandhi’s advisor quits party
In another major setback to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi’s advisor, former MLA Harendra Malik and vice-president Pankaj Malik have quit the party. According to sources, the father-son duo is expected to join the Samajwadi Party and is said to have a vote-base in western UP.
While Harendra Malik was elected to the Rajya Sabha from National Lok Dal Party Haryana in 2005, Pankaj has been a two-time MLA. In 2007, became MLA from Baghda seat from Congress. After this he was elected MLA from Shamli seat in 2012. At present he was the state vice president of Congress and in-charge of western Uttar Pradesh.
The Malik family is a resident of Muzaffarnagar. According to reports, Harendra and Pankaj Malik may accompany Akhilesh Yadav on the stage on October 22, where the former CM is expected to hold a rally.
After resigning from the Congress party, Harendra Malik accused people close to Priyanka Gandhi of hijacking the party.
Priyanka was to start the ‘Pratigya Yatra’ from Saharanpur from October 17, but the program could not start due to lack of support from the Congress leaders of the area. There is also a big discussion that Congress leader Imran Masood, who lives in Saharanpur, can also leave the party. He has said many times that only Samajwadi Party can defeat BJP in UP.
The Congress on Tuesday announced that it would give 40 per cent tickets to women in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which party leaders called a game changer. The Congress party wants to target half the population with this announcement.
Read also: Will Priyanka Gandhi contest the UP elections? Congress leader’s reply
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