“Appropriate action will be taken”: UP Congress President Ajay Rai on Suresh Chandra Yadav filing nomination from Phulpur assembly seat

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 26 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Ajay Rai on Saturday said that appropriate action will be taken against Suresh Chandra Yadav, the party’s former Prayagraj (Gangapar) unit chief for going agains the decision of the party’s leadership to and filing a nomination against the INDIA bloc candidate in the Phulpur assembly by-elections.

“We have not fielded any candidates there, the one who filed a nomination is not our candidate; he was the district president of the party. The party has taken action against him yesterday. we have also issued a show cause notice against him; if he chooses not to reply, then appropriate action will be taken,” Ajay Rai told ANI.

Earlier Congress removed Suresh Chandra Yadav as its Prayagraj (Gangapar) unit chief for the same reason.

In a letter issued to the Yadav on October 25, the state Congress Committee president Ajay Rai said, “On your filing nomination papers against the INDIA alliance candidate in the Phulpur assembly by-election against the decision of the party leadership, you are relieved from the post of the president of District Congress Committee Prayagraj (Gangapar) with immediate effect.

Rai further said that the party has not allotted its symbol to anyone.

He further reiterated that Suresh Chandra Yadav’s nomination filing was an indisciplinary action.

Congress has earlier announced that it would not field candidates in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls in nine assembly seats, lending support to INDIA bloc candidates.

INDIA bloc has fielded Mujtaba Siddiqui as its candidate for the Phulpur assembly bypoll.

The poll body has announced by-polls for nine of the 10 vacant assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on November 13, except Milkipur of Ayodhya district.

The nine assembly seats where bypolls are being held include Meerapur, Kundarki, Khair, Karhal, Phulpur, and Katehari. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 23.

The by-polls on 48 constituencies are spread over 15 states – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

On Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s ‘Congress sell 20% of tickets’ remark, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said, “When he was in Congress why he didn’t raise this issue? Such things happen only in the BJP. He is talking about the things that happen in the BJP. Corporate work is going on in the BJP. They do politics based on ‘give and take’. He (Himanta Biswa Sarma) himself is corrupt…”