‘Acharya Pramod Krishnam is more likely to be made the president of the party in the state’.
New Delhi: After months of silence in the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh following the massive loss in the Assembly polls in March, the murmurs of a new party president in the state are doing the rounds.
According to a source privy to the developments in the party, Acharya Pramod Krishnam has been in talks among the upper rung leaders and is more likely to be made the president of the party in the state.
In a bid to expedite his ascendency, Krishnam is believed to have made a statement that was taken as an indication of greater allegiance to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, an AICC general secretary and in-charge of the party in the state. During the “Chintan Shivir” in Udaipur, Krishnam had said, “Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the most popular face of the party; in case Rahul Gandhi is not ready to accept the responsibility, she should take over the leadership.”
Consequently, the statement has met sharp opposition within the party.
Sporting white robes, a red tilak (mark) on the forehead, and a long white beard, Acharya Pramod Krishnam is received less like a politician and more like a godman, which experts believe could help the grand old party in rejuvenating its Hindu credentials and portray itself as a party parallel to the BJP in religious demeanour.
Aradhna Mona Mishra, Congress MLA in Uttar Pradesh, told The Sunday Guardian, “I have no clue about it; this issue has not been discussed as yet with us. Furthermore, the session which has just happened in Udaipur is going to be very fruitful for the party, many resolutions have been passed, many discussions have been done and the output is about to show up good results. We are looking forward for strengthening of the party. I think for the first time, Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were present in each and every committee maybe for a brief time, but they visited all the committee discussions, they were part of discussions.”
Acharya Pramod Krishnam fought for the first time in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on Sambhal seat but lost. He came up fourth in line with 16,034 votes behind RPD BSP and SP. Again in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress fielded Acharya on Lucknow seat where he polled 1,78,904 votes and lost, coming third in line after Poonam Sinha of Samajwadi Party got 2,82,858 votes and Rajnath Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party who polled a total of 6,27,881 votes won the seat.
Born in a Brahmin family in Bihar, on 4 January 1965, Acharya Pramod Krishnam is the Peethadhishwar of the Kalki Dham He also founded the Shri Kalki Foundation in Sambhal. Amod Prakash Singh, a political analyst in Uttar Pradesh, said, “In UP, what they need first is ground level force, they don’t have that, they can make anyone a president, but it is just like doing some cosmetic changes; unless they don’t make changes on the ground nothing would work. They had Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to control the whole election campaign, but what was the end result? First they need to focus on the basic things. They need to build from the scratch and build ground teams. For that, the central leadership must have frequent communication with the grassroots, they can’t come once in a while and expect ground workers to be working for them.”