Congress battles lack of harmony in its ranks

With the Congress drawing an aggressive plan to counter the opposition and sections of the civil society on corruption, the lack of coordination between the government and the party — both at the Centre and in states — continues to be a cause of concern for its leadership.

With the Congress drawing an aggressive plan to counter the opposition and sections of the civil society on corruption, the lack of coordination between the government and the party — both at the Centre and in states — continues to be a cause of concern for its leadership.

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Nearly six months have elapsed since Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced the setting up of coordination committees across the country to ensure regular interaction between the government and the party and also to bring greater cohesiveness in the organisation but only a few states have complied so far.

Six states — West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka and union territories Chandigarh and Daman and Diu — have formed the coordination committees at the party's 83rd plenary session at Burari in December last year.

Gandhi had then pointed out to the increasing number of complaints received from workers about the lack of coordination between the party and the government.

“In states, where we are in power, the AICC will set up a coordination committee to ensure regular and close interaction between the government and the party organisations,” she had declared.

The state Congress units are also laggard in setting up monitoring committees for giving systematic feedback to the central leadership on the implementation of the UPA government's flagship welfare schemes.