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Congress leaders to meet in Gujarat for evaluation, will also decide of LoP
The party will also decide on the leader of the opposition candidate in the Gujarat legislative assembly and has submitted the names of three contenders to the leadership after the Gujarat assembly secretariat recently asked the Congress to appoint its leader in the House before January 19
Nearly a month after the Congress faced its worst defeat against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat, a fact-finding committee constituted by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to visit the state this week and meet the leaders for evaluation and the party’s performance.
Kharge earlier this month constituted a three-member fact-finding committee to evaluate the results of the Gujarat assembly elections in which the party recorded its worst performance.
The committee, headed by former Maharashtra Minister Nitin Raut with two members Shakeel Ahmad Khan, and Lok Sabha member from Odisha, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka will submit a report to Congress president within two weeks.
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Arjun Modhwadia, senior Congress leader and MLA from Porbander said the party leaders will discuss issues with the fact-finding team when they visit Gujarat.
Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani hailed it as a good gesture by the party to carry out the proper diagnosis of Congress’ performance in Gujarat.
“It will help in serious introspection and rethinking of our strategy for Gujarat. It is a very good step that senior leaders are going to introspect our performance, including mine,” said Mevani.
The party will also decide on the leader of the opposition candidate in the Gujarat legislative assembly and has submitted the names of three contenders to the leadership after the Gujarat assembly secretariat recently asked the Congress to appoint its leader in the House before January 19.
“Three candidates including Dalit leader and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani, Danilimbda MLA Shailesh Parmar and Gandhinagar North MLA CJ Chavda are the frontrunners for the post,” said a senior Congress leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“While Parmar and Chavda have been lobbying with the top leadership for the post, Mevani seems to be the top choice for the party,” he added.
Meanwhile, about 14-15 Congress leaders, including some of the MLAs, have written to the party’s top leadership on various issues in the state, including anti-party activities by some leaders, lack of proper campaigning and lack of response to BJP’s massive campaign.
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Speaking about the Congress’ loss in Gujarat owing to poor performance, a senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said, “There are multiple issues in Gujarat. From the selection of candidates to the party’s inability to cash in on issues like inflation and unemployment, all these aspects should be looked into.”
He added, “The party failed to reach out to the people about the 10-point promises made in its election manifesto that included farm loan waiver, 50% reduction in cooking gas cylinder prices, free electricity and healthcare insurance, among others.”
He said that some of the senior party leaders behaved rudely with the state leaders and did not make any attempt to stop those who were leaving them and joining the BJP.
About 20 senior Congress leaders have joined the saffron party since the 2017 assembly elections.
At a function in Changa village earlier this month, Congress MLA from Vav constituency, Geniben Thakor appreciated the BJP’s strategy of dropping veterans and even non-performing candidates. Speaking at a public function, she wished that her party should also adopt this strategy if it wants to return to power.
BJP denied tickets to 46 former MLAs to contest in state assembly elections.
“The BJP can drop any leader and none of them can dare to question the decision of the leadership. In the Congress, even when the party is not performing well, groups are being formed and allocation of tickets is an issue,” she had said at an event on January 3.
According to political experts, infighting was seen as a major reason for the Congress to be unable to re-group in Gujarat.
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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which got a 12.5% vote share as compared to Congress’ 27% (down from 41% in 2017), could pose a major challenge to Congress and replace it as the main opposition in the state in the next elections, according to a political expert.
“There seems little chance for a revival of Congress in Gujarat in the near future. The party needs mass leaders but they can’t be created overnight. Congress hasn’t empowered the state leaders and they have been weakened over a period of time,” said Amit Dholakia, a professor of political science at MSU, Vadodara.
He also said that the AAP wants to replace Congress as the main opposition party and this could be another challenge for Congress in the 2017 state elections.
“Star campaigners for the party including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi did not actively participate in Gujarat election campaigning at the ground level. A lot of resources were spent by the party in Gujarat but many candidates did not receive them,” said another senior Congress leader.
In the elections held in December 2022, the BJP marked a landslide victory in the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 by winning 156 seats. The Congress finished a distant second with 17 seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bagged five seats. Three seats went to Independents and one to the Samajwadi Party.
