Why Congress chose Ajay Rai as its UP president

The Congress has a new president for Uttar Pradesh. Ajai Rai, a party veteran from Varanasi and five-term MLA, replaces incumbent Brijlal Khabri barely nine months before the Lok Sabha election. Khabri, a Dalit leader, was appointed to the post last October and had lately fallen out of favour, particularly with Priyanka Gandhi’s team working in UP. Rai is expected to energise the Congress at the grassroots in a state where the party’s fortunes have been on a continuous decline.

Rai beat the two other contenders, P.L. Punia and Virendra Chaudhary, to bag the challenging job. The 53-year-old influential leader from Purvanchal, who had contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, began his political career in the BJP, getting elected as an MLA thrice from UP’s Kolasla assembly seat in 1996, 2002 and 2007. He joined the Samajwadi Party in 2009 and fought the Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi, switching over to the Congress to win the Pindra assembly seat in 2012. He lost from Pindra in 2017 and 2022.

Rai is seen as the choice of Priyanka’s core team, which was reportedly dissatisfied with Khabri. Sources in the UP Congress say ties between Khabri and Priyanka’s team had reached a complete breakdown. The Congress central leadership had apparently finalised Punia’s name but Rai appears to have won the race due to the backing of Priyanka’s team.

That Rai had contested—even if unsuccessfully—against PM Modi in the last two general elections seems to have added heft to his candidature. As a senior UP Congress leader said: “The upcoming Lok Sabha election will be predominantly against PM Modi; so we have brought in a leader who has been fighting him for the past 10 years. Ajai Rai will not only challenge Modi again in Varanasi as a joint candidate of the INDIA bloc but also take on the BJP in the whole of UP.”

Congress functionaries say making Rai the UP Congress chief may open the doors wider for an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). “Khabri is a Dalit leader and had issued various statements against BSP supremo Mayawati in the past while exiting her party,” said a senior functionary.

Another reason that determined Rai’s selection is his caste. His Bhumihar community has influence in some pockets of eastern UP. Purvanchal, which used to be a Congress stronghold, is now dominated by the BJP, what with Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath representing the region in Parliament and the state assembly, respectively. With Rai’s appointment, the Congress has a Bhumihar leader at the helm in three states of the Hindi belt—UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Subscribe to India Today Magazine