Uttar Pradesh: Pained by state leadership, Congress biggie Annu Tandon resigns

LUCKNOW: In a jolt to the grand old party ahead of the crucial bye-election on the Bangarmau seat of Unnao, former Congress MP from Unnao Annu Tandon resigned from the party.
In a letter to the party president Sonia Gandhi, Tandon cited ‘misalignment with the state level leadership’ as the reason for snapping her ties with the party. Meanwhile there were rumors that Tandon may join Samajwadi Party however both sides remained tight-lipped on it.
“Unfortunately, there is a misalignment between the state level leadership and me. And I do not see their support in allowing me to work since the past several months,” she wrote in the letter urging immediate acceptance.
Terming it both "painful and disgusting", she said that she had raised the matter with in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had assured that the matter would be resolved but to no avail.
“She (Priyanka) assured me that the congress president is fully apprised of the situation too. However, we have been unable to resolve a forward path that is amenable to all the parties concerned,” she said.
Targeting the state leadership, Tandon said: “The loss I faced in the 2019 election was not as painful as seeing the party organization disintegrate and decimate itself since then. The state leadership has focused only on social media management and self-branding and is oblivious of the deep divisions in the party and the voters it has thus caused.”
She also accused the state level leadership of spreading canards about her and her associates to score brownie points. “….This despite my genuine intent is not only painful but also disgusting,” she said.
Terming it both "painful and disgusting", she said there was no attempt by the party leadership to stem this. She said that she had raised the matter with in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had assured that the Congress president is fully apprised of the situation. However, the matter had remained unresolved.
"My ideology and principles have been aligned with the senior leadership of the party and my resignation does not change this," she said, adding she would be consulting her workers on the future path.
When asked to comment, UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu said: “She had been expelled from the party for six years on charges of anti-party activities. Her letter of resignation came in response to our order.”
On the kind of ‘anti-party activities’ Lallu said: “she had "not been taking interest in party programmes for a long time" and the disciplinary committee of the party looked into these charges.”
Asked to comment on Tandon's departure would lay any impact on the party's prospects on the Bamgarmau seat, Lallu said: “not at all.” But insiders stated that the event could sway around 5,000-8,000 votes.