A Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh has been removed from all party positions after he heaped praise on party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, but addressed him as ‘pappu’.
The name has been associated with Gandhi on social media courtesy the BJP and the leader’s repeated reference to it while praising Gandhi’s attempt to visit the family of the deceased in Mandsaur.
It had all started in the run-up to the 2014 General Elections, with BJP supporters calling Gandhi ‘Pappu’ and the Congress calling Modi ‘feku’.
Vinay Pradhan, the district president of the party in Meerut, sent the messages on a WhatsApp group titled ‘Indian National Congress’.
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Pradhan did attempt to praise the party VP, but got it all wrong. “Pappu could have joined hands with Adani, Ambani and Mallya but he did not do that. Pappu could have been a minister or even the Prime Minister, but he did not go down that road. Instead, he put his life on the line by going to Mandsaur,” he reportedly wrote.
After the message, Ramakrishna Dwivedi, the chairman of the disciplinary committee of the party reportedly announced Pradhan’s expulsion for the ‘provocative’ texts on Thursday. Dwivedi is quoted saying that the act was an attempt to divert from issues like the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh and said that Pradhan had violated the ‘Constitution of the Congress party’.
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In his defence, Pradhan says the images were photo-shopped and that he would never use such language while referring to Gandhi, whom he is seeking an appointment with.
On June 6, five farmers were killed as the agitation by peasants turned violent in Mandsaur.
Besides, a 26-year-old farmer had died in Badwan village of Mandsaur district. Locals on June 9 had alleged that he was beaten up by policemen.
Though the stir has ebbed away, three farmers have ended their lives in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the number of farmer suicides in the state in the past one week to five.
With Agency Inputs
