Cabinet reshuffle talk wakes up Cong ministers from slumber

Most of the ministers have been camping in their constituencies listening to people's complaints

SINCE the party's debacle in the Assembly elections earlier this year, the UP unit of the Congress remained completely inactive. There were neither small nor big campaigns launched by the party on any major issue and most of the state leaders kept waiting for the organisational changes to take place. But for the last few days, some of the leaders have suddenly become active, particularly after there were murmurs of a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.

Suddenly we find that Congress MPs, especially the ministers, have become active in their respective parliamentary constituencies.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the people of the state elected 22 Congress MPs, of whom six were made ministers in the UPA-II government as a reward for the party's "shot-in-the-arm success". However, three years later the party performed poorly in the Assembly election despite rigorous campaigning by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. For the debacle, MPs and ministers were blamed for not being active in their constituencies. In their defence, most of the ministers and MPs had then said that they were not consulted during the selection of the candidates in their constituencies. But now with talks of a cabinet reshuffle in the air, these leaders have started devoting a good amount of their time in their constituencies listening to people's grievances.

"Some of the MPs had avoided visiting their constituencies after the Assembly election. But in the last few weeks, most of them are seen often in their constituencies trying to address the problems of the people," said a senior party leader.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain Aditya was in Lalitpur in Bundelkhand for the last few days. Sources said that a Dhaulpur to Delhi express train has been given a stoppage at Lalitpur after his intervention. Aditya was scheduled to be present during the train's debut halt at Lalitpur.

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