In a setback to the Congress just before bypolls to the Bangarmau Assembly seat in Unnao, two of its senior leaders from the district, former MP Anu Tandon and state general secretary Ankit Parihar revolted against the state leadership and resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday.

Interestingly, as usual, the central leadership reacted to Tandon’s resignation, as she was also an AICC member, with state president Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’ issuing an expulsion letter to Tandon, claiming to have removed her for anti-party activities. The expulsion was made just a few hours after Tandon resigned.  

 In a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, Tandon said, “I have been associated with the Congress party for almost 15 years, as an elected representative, as a party office-bearer and as an ordinary worker.”

 “At no time during my association with the Congress did I not have access to the senior leadership. I have received warmth and guidance from both Congress presidents under whom I have served — Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. I owe them gratitude for their support over the years. My ideology and principles have been aligned with the senior leadership of the party and my resignation does not change that.”

She said, “Unfortunately, there is a ‘misalignment’ between the state-level leadership and me and I do not see their support in allowing me to work since the past several months. The loss I faced in the 2019 election was not as painful as seeing the party organisation disintegrate and decimate itself since then. The state leadership of the party has focused only on social media management and self-branding and is oblivious of the deep divisions in the party and the voters it has thus caused.”

“Spreading canards about my associates in Unnao and me, by the local irrelevant and chosen few, to get brownie points despite my genuine intent is painful, rather quite disgusting with no attempt or endeavour by the party leadership to stem this,” she claimed. 

“I had continued to remain in the party for several months despite being at odds with those in the state leadership as I hoped that there would be progress towards grooming the correct set of leaders in the State towards a better future. I also had an opportunity to speak with Priyanka Gandhi. She has assured me that the Congress President is fully apprised of the situation too. However, we have been unable to resolve a forward path that is amenable to all parties concerned,” she added.

“I have requested the Congress president to accept my resignation immediately. As far as my future path goes, I will be consulting with my workers, who are core to everything I have achieved so far and I am confident that we will continue to be a force for good, a force for change and a means to truly represent the voice of the people,” Tandon said.

Meanwhile, reports said that Anu Tandon could be joining the Samajwadi Party.

Ankit Singh Parihar, another youth leader from Unnao, also resigned with Tandon and attacked the top leadership and alleged that the ideological structure of the party changed since Priyanka Gandhi Vadra became the state in-charge. In his resignation letter to Vadra, Parihar took a veiled dig at her and said the ideological structure of the party changed since she became the state in-charge of the party.