Who Is Mamta Choudhary, The Dalit Congress Leader At The Centre Of Lucknow Clash?

On October 11, a clash at the Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters in Lucknow put Mahila Congress leader Mamta Choudhary and former state party chief Ajay Rai on opposite sides. Choudhary said Rai's supporters mistreated her and other women workers.

Choudhary, who heads the state Mahila Congress's central zone, said women workers came under attack when Rai turned up with his supporters. Party leaders said the episode unfolded before new state president Aradhana Misra and newly appointed working president Imran Masood reached the office to assume charge. The All India Congress Committee has set up a fact-finding panel led by former Uttar Pradesh Congress president Brijlal Khabri to examine the matter.

Video And Exchange

Videos that emerged on Monday appeared to show Choudhary saying she did not want to see Rai's face. Rai then told her to "remain within your limits (aukaat mein baat karo)".

Choudhary, 47, said to The Indian Express on Monday that she had been objecting to women workers being pushed and was not addressing Rai directly when the exchange began. "I was not instigating anyone. I was not even talking to him," she said.

She said she could not understand why the exchange escalated. "If I had said something wrong, you are a senior leader, you could have reprimanded me. But what was the need to get shoes and slippers thrown at us?" she said.

Attack Allegations

Choudhary termed the incident an attack on Dalits and women. She said she expected the party's senior leadership to act against those responsible.

"I have faith in the Congress. Women's dignity is respected here. A few wrong people bring a bad name to the party," she said.

Political Profile

The confrontation has brought Choudhary into focus as Congress prepares for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. A Dalit leader, she has spent nearly two decades in the party's city organisation.

She entered politics in 2006 when she contested the Lucknow Municipal Corporation election from Malviya Nagar. Since then, she has been elected corporator for four consecutive terms and served as the Congress leader in the municipal corporation's House in 2017 and 2023.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra chose her for the "Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon" campaign before the 2022 Assembly elections. Choudhary then fought the reserved Mohanlalganj seat and polled 2,990 votes.

A year after the Assembly elections, she was appointed president of the Mahila Congress's central zone in Uttar Pradesh. Choudhary said she belongs to an old Congress family from Unnao, while Lucknow is her marital home. She studied at the Indian School in Bahrain and pursued a degree in English at DAV PG College.

Congress leaders who worked with her said she moved up step by step in the party and earned a reputation for saying what she thought. They said that bluntness has marked her political life.

Organisational Tensions

The clash comes amid uncertainty in the Mahila Congress organisation. The committee was dissolved last year, but no new president has been appointed.

Party insiders said the vacancy has also added to friction between Choudhary and Rai. That internal strain now forms part of the backdrop to Sunday's confrontation.

After the incident, the AICC appointed a fact-finding committee. Former Uttar Pradesh Congress president Brijlal Khabri, a prominent Dalit leader and former BSP leader, heads it. Khabri said the panel would file its report within a week.