‘Not as famous as Sidhu’: Who are 4 Congress chiefs sacked by Sonia?

Lallu, Godiyal, Loken Singh lost in recent elections

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R The Congress’s drubbing in the elections in five states has led to the familiar claims of infighting, sabotage and rivalry in the local units.

This has, obviously, been loudest in Punjab, the only state of the five where the Congress was in power. Consequently, all eyes were on the garrulous Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Congress unit chief for Punjab.

Sidhu and his counterparts in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Goa were asked to quit by party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. Sidhu has been a national figure since the 1980s, first as a dashing opener for the Indian cricket team, then as a regular on comedy shows and finally as a politician.

But the Congress chiefs of the four remaining states are not as well known. The fact that these four leaders have had little visibility has added to the criticism of the Congress's campaign strategy. THE WEEK profiles these four leaders:

Ajay Kumar Lallu (UP)

Ajay Kumar Lallu began his political career in student union politics in the late 1990s. He won his first state election by winning the 2012 assembly poll from Tamkuhi Raj seat. He retained the seat in the 2017 election. However, Lallu lost the recent election from Tamkuhi Raj to Asim Kumar of the Nishad Party, an ally of the BJP.

Lallu was appointed as the UP Congress unit chief in October 2019, replacing Raj Babbar. Lallu's promotion was reported to be the brainchild of Priyanka Gandhi. Lallu had been in the news for his on-the-ground method of campaigning on populist issues, which frequently involved courting arrest.

Girish Chodankar (Goa)

Girish Chodankar started his political career in the Youth Congress, being its Goa chief. He had fought the bypoll to the Panaji Assembly seat in 2017 against Manohar Parrikar, but lost by 4,803 votes. He was appointed Goa Congress chief in 2018 when Rahul Gandhi was the national chief of the party.

Chodankar had tendered his resignation twice before: In 2019, following the Congress's disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha polls and then in December 2020 after the disappointing performance in civic polls. He had lost to Shripad Naik of the BJP from the North Goa constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Ganesh Godiyal (Uttarakhand)

Ganesh Godiyal was appointed Congress chief for Uttarakhand in July 2021. He had won his first assembly election from Thalisain in 2002. He won from the Srinagar constituency in 2012, but lost in both the 2017 and 2022 elections from the same constituency.

Godiyal was considered to be a loyalist of the Harish Rawat camp in the state Congress unit.

N. Loken Singh (Manipur)

Nameirakpam Loken Singh was appointed Congress unit chief in Manipur in September 2021 after his predecessor, Govindas Konthoujam, moved to the BJP. Loken Singh had been elected to the Manipur assembly four times since 2002 and also held ministerial portfolios of panchayati raj and agriculture in Congress governments in the state. His ascent to the Congress's top post in Manipur came at a time when the Congress was seeing steady loss of leaders in Manipur due to defections. He lost the 2022 election from Nambol constituency to BJP's Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh.