Contrary to the idea floated by All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi to have a compact body, the new committee is of jumbo size.

The party has accommodated more than 350 leaders in the committee.

Rahul Gandhi had vociferously backed the idea of a small committee for the UPCC so that each member can be made accountable for their respective tasks. Eventually, this would strengthen the party base in the state.

“We are unable to stick to Rahul’s idea as it is an election year. We are all set to enter into a political alliance with the Samajwadi Party and we cannot ignore the party's cadre,” a senior UPCC leader said.

The newly appointed committee has as many as 31 vice-presidents and 67 Pradesh Congress Committee general secretaries. As many as 111 leaders are in the executive committee, and 147 of them have been made the party secretaries.

The vice-presidents include former IAS officer P L Punia, who was once close to the Chief Minister Mayawati, slain MP Phulan Devi’s husband Ummed Singh and Babban Rajbhar, who was earlier associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party. P S Airon, whose wife is the Mayor of Bareilly, has also been appointed as the vice-president.

The party hasn’t fallen short of positions to accommodate its MLAs in the list of general secretaries. Among them are Vivek Singh, Ravindra Pratap Choudhari, Anugrah Narayan Singh and Pradeep Jain. “The MLAs have the resources and can easily move from one place to another. The party has engaged them in the organisational works as it would be cost effective for the party,” said a party leader.