Months before the high-stakes Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress on Friday evening carried out a major organisational reshuffle, appointing MLA Aradhana Misra Mona as its state unit chief and Saharanpur MP Imran Masood as working president.Misra, the daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, succeeded Ajay Rai, who has been the UP Congress president since August 2023.AdvertisementCongress President Mallikarjun Kharge also appointed Devinder Nishad and Alok Prasad as senior vice-presidents of the party’s UP unit, according to a press note.Meanwhile, Chaudhary Virendra Singh, the Congress MLA from Pharenda, has replaced Misra as Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the state Assembly. Misra and Singh are the two Congress MLAs in the 403-member Assembly.With these appointments, the Congress has sought to strike a social balance, with a Brahmin as its state unit president, a Muslim as working president, an OBC (Devinder Nishad) and a Dalit (Alok Prasad) as its senior vice-presidents – much in sync with INDIA bloc partner, Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) pitch.AdvertisementIn a post on X, the outgoing state Congress president Ajay Rai wrote: “I will remain grateful to Rahul Gandhi ji and the Congress top leadership for life for entrusting the responsibility of UP Congress Committee President to an ordinary worker like me. The fight is still ongoing. My heartfelt best wishes to all the newly appointed office-bearers, including the new President. We will fight, we will win!”The importance of Aradhana MisraThe Congress turning to Aradhana Misra, its three-term MLA from Rampur Khas in Pratapgarh, to lead the party in an election year only signifies her growing political stature.Her appointment is significant not only because the Congress has chosen a woman to head its state unit, but also because it marks the party’s return to a Brahmin woman face after nearly 15 years. The last woman to head the Congress in UP was Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who served as PCC president from 2007 to 2012. She is now with the BJP.Despite belonging to one of the Congress’s established political families in UP, Misra’s own political journey began at the grassroots. An MBA by qualification, she entered electoral politics through the block-level election process and served as a Block Pramukh before moving to the state Assembly in 2014.She was first elected MLA from Rampur Khas in 2014, retained the seat in 2017, and won it for a third consecutive time in 2022. Her three victories have given her an electoral base of her own, beyond her father’s political legacy.Misra has also been a familiar face in the Congress’s UP campaign under Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She travelled extensively across Uttar Pradesh alongside Gandhi during her visits to the state and was actively involved in the party’s ‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’ campaign ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections.Congress leaders describe her as a grassroots worker with a long association with social and rural development. According to her profile, she has worked in the cooperative sector, rural development and women’s self-help groups and has been associated with social work for more than two decades.Return of Imran MasoodThe appointment of Saharanpur MP as working president adds a prominent west Uttar Pradesh face to the party’s leadership. Masood rose to national focus during the 2014 Lok Sabha election following his controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which drew criticism and legal action at the time.He subsequently remained active in electoral politics and returned to Congress after a brief stint with SP and won the Lok Sabha election from Saharanpur in 2024.His appointment is also seen as an attempt to garner the support of Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh.The social combinationWithin the Congress, many see the appointment of Misra and Masood as the emergence of a new social combination of Brahmin and Muslim in the party.Masood’s elevation could also have implications for the Congress’s continuing discussions with the Samajwadi Party for a poll tie-up, as the Saharanpur MP has recently been trading barbs with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.While Masood has been vocal about when and how the two parties should work together, Misra and the Tiwari family, meanwhile, are considered to have cordial relations with the SP leadership.As a result, some Congress leaders see the new arrangement useful on two fronts — broadening the party’s social appeal, while also giving leaders who can engage with the SP leadership to negotiate seat-sharing for the 2027 polls.you may likeThe PDA outreachWhile Rajendra Pal Gautam, a Dalit, is the AICC in-charge of the state, the Congress leadership on Friday appointed a Dalit and an OBC from the Nishad community as senior vice-presidents.While Devinder Nishad is chairman of the party’s fishermen unit, Alok Prasad had earlier served as chairman of the party’s Scheduled Caste Department and hails from Gorakhpur – the constituency of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.By replicating alliance partner Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) pitch, the test for the Congress’ new state leadership is to turn this social representation into organisational expansion on the ground.