The Indian National Congress on Friday, 26 June appointed Rajendra Pal Gautam as the party's new AICC In-charge for Uttar Pradesh, replacing Ajay Kumar Lallu in the role, according to a statement issued by All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary K.C. Venugopal. The reshuffle comes roughly ten months before voters in the state are scheduled to elect 403 new members of the Legislative Assembly, around April 2027.

Key Appointments

Beyond Uttar Pradesh, the Congress simultaneously named new in-charges for two other states. Sanjay Dutt was appointed AICC In-charge for Haryana, while Lalji Desai was assigned the same role for Odisha. The statement noted that the appointments take effect immediately, on the direction of the Congress president.

Venugopal's note acknowledged the outgoing functionaries, stating: 'The party appreciates the contributions of the following outgoing General Secretary/In-charges: Avinash Pande, B.K. Hariprasad and Ajay Kumar Lallu.'

The Challenge in Uttar Pradesh

The appointment underscores the steep electoral hill the Congress must climb in India's most populous state. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the party managed to win just two seats out of 403, its weakest performance in decades in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-governed state. Gautam's mandate will be to rebuild organisational capacity and electoral credibility ahead of the next contest.

Ram Temple Trust Row Adds Political Context

The reshuffle arrives at a politically charged moment. The Congress has been escalating its attack on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust in Ayodhya, alleging large-scale financial irregularities in the management of donations and land transactions linked to the Ram temple project.

At a recent press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Aradhana Mishra claimed that funds donated by devotees had been mismanaged and demanded a thorough audit of the trust's functioning.

Rai reportedly argued that an existing Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to examine the matter was 'inadequate and not time-bound', and questioned the appointment of certain officials to the investigation team. He called for the inquiry to be completed within 7 to 10 days and monitored by a sitting High Court judge. The Congress has alleged that irregularities occurred across multiple stages — donation collection, land transactions, and management of offerings — amounting to what it described as a 'systematic' and 'organised' misuse of resources.

What Comes Next

With Gautam now at the helm, the Congress will look to consolidate its presence in a state where it has been largely marginalised since the 1990s. The Ram temple controversy may offer the party a fresh political wedge, though translating that narrative into seats in a BJP stronghold remains a formidable challenge. How quickly Gautam builds on-ground structures will be closely watched as the 2027 campaign cycle begins in earnest.