Congress accepts resignation of UP PCC chief Nirmal Khatri

The Congress high command has accepted the resignation of incumbent UP Congress PCC President, Nirmal Khatri.

Khatri tendered his resignation in the last week of June after the party announced that Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, Madhusudan Mistry would be replaced by senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

In the recent past, several senior leaders, including former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, confirmed the news of Khatri submitting his resignation to the party high command.

In his resignation letter, the former PCC president cited health reasons for his decision to relinquish the post. However, insiders claim that he resigned over his strained relations with poll strategist Prashant Kishor - who has apparently been bragging about ousting two senior leaders, believed to be Mistry and Khatri, from the state unit.

Kishor has been pushing for a Brahmin face to lead the Congress' campaign in UP ever since he was given the mandate to handle the party's campaign in the poll-bound state.

Sources said that Kishor was not too happy with the working styles of Mistry and Khatri and that he had begun planting stories against them. Sources said that Kishor finally succeeded after the Congress decided to bring Azad in as Mistry's replacement.

It also appears as though Priyanka Gandhi has accepted Kishor's request to lead the Congress' UP campaign. Sources say that though Priyanka will not be given any formal designation in the party, she will aggressively campaign in the state during the 2017 assembly elections. The 2017 polls will be a far cry from the previous poll campaigns which saw Priyanka confining herself to campaigning in the Gandhi bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareilly.

With Khatri out of the picture, the hunt is on for the next PCC chief. Among the top contenders for the post are former Union minister Jitin Prasada, Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tewari and former Varanasi MP Rajesh Mishra. Sheila Dikshit is also expected to play a prominent role in the state, but details about her role are not clear yet.