War of words among Congress leaders in Jyotiraditya Scindia’s review meet

PTI, Jun 12, 2019, 9:50 AM IST

New Delhi: A verbal spat broke out among Congress leaders of West Uttar pradesh during a review meeting called by party general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia to discuss Lok Sabha polls results on Tuesday.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar was also present during the meeting. Mr Scindia was appointed as party in-charge for Western Uttar Pradesh just ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

During the meeting, Congress MLA KK Sharma got into an argument with Mr Scindia. The spat occurred after the lawmaker complained to Mr Scindia about the working of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The Congress General Secretary objected to the comments made by Mr Sharma following which an argument broke out between the two. Mr Scindia later asked Mr Sharma to get out of the meeting.

“We are here since 10 am but the meeting was held at 3 pm. The leadership that takes decision without meeting right members is also responsible for the election results. I told Jyotiraditya Scindia Ji in the meeting that I have many things to say against GN Azad,” he said after the meeting.

Mr Sharma also accused Mr Azad of selling tickets and even questioned Mr Scindia’s style of working.

During the meeting, Ghaziabad Congress president Harendra Kasana complained against the party candidate Dolly Sharma. Miffed by his complainst, Dolly Sharma’s father Narendra Bhardwaj got into a verbal spat with Mr Kasana after getting out of the meeting.

However, when asked about the incident, both the leaders dismissed it saying that it was an internal matter of the party.

Congress has started introspection on its poor performance in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls. Jyotiraditya Scindia had called the meeting to assess the results on Lok Sabha seats which are under his responsibility. He will hold another meeting in Lucknow on June 14.

Congress Uttar Pradesh East General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will also be conducting review meetings in Raibareli.

A few days ago, at a meeting Priyanka Gandhi had talked of “big changes” in the organisation.

This is the second time when Congress leaders have ended up in a verbal spat with each other during a review meeting. Earlier, argument broke out between Congress leaders during the meeting called to review the Lok Sabha polls results in Haryana.

Congress party could only win one out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.