New UPCC chief Lallu takes charge, vows to transform party

The newly appointed UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu reached here on Friday to assume his new responsibilities, vowing to make the Congress party again "the voice of the deprived" in Uttar Pradesh.

Lallu, who took a UP Roadways bus to reach Lucknow, was given a rousing welcome on his arrival as the party workers and supporters, carrying welcome posters and banners, accompanied him in a nearly four-km-long march from the Polytechnic Crossing to the UPCC Headquarters, Nehru Bhawan at Mall Road here.

On the way to the party headquarters, Lallu along with his supporters stopped at the statues of B R Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Mahatama Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and paid homage to them.

"The Congress will become the voice of the deprived, harassed, farmers, youths and women in Uttar Pradesh. We have several challenges before us but with the blessings of seniors and the support of youths, no one will be able to stop the party from coming to power in 2022," Lallu said addressing the workers and supporters after taking charge as the new UPCC president.

Lallu exhorted workers to overcome all hurdles through determination and hard work, and work unitedly for taking the party ahead.

Thanking Congress working president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Priynaka Gandhi Varda, he said, "Alongwith other challenges, the bad shape of the economy is also a challenge and with it there is also a challenge to uproot those in power. We all will have to take a pledge for it."