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After poll debacles, Congress to hold 2 key meets today
The party’s strategy group for Parliament will also meet on Sunday to plan for the upcoming second half of the Budget Session, which starts from March 14
With an aim to discuss the state of party affairs after the disastrous results in the latest round of assembly elections, the Congress has hurriedly called a meeting of its top executive body, the working committee, on Sunday amid a move to also chart out the future strategy of the party.
The party’s strategy group for Parliament will also meet on Sunday to plan for the upcoming second half of the Budget Session, which starts from March 14.
Functionaries close to the party’s leadership maintained that Congress president Sonia Gandhi will invite free and frank suggestions but any attempt by the “G23” leaders to build a case against the leadership would be countered at every level. “The decision to call a CWC meeting just three days after the poll results is unusual. Generally, a CWC meeting is called weeks later,” a leader said, asking not to be named.
A group of Congress leaders, popularly called the “G23”, wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020, questioning the party’s functioning and seeking structural overhaul.
The senior CWC member, however, added: “The meeting is unlikely to turn into a platform for attack on the leadership. We are facing a major crisis. We all have to find a solution. It is incorrect to think one leader is responsible for the crisis.”
The party’s incharges of the states that went to the polls recently will present individual reports on the electoral performance of the party, the leader said.
The party is also unlikely to accept any resignations from leaders involved in the election campaign on Sunday. On Saturday, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala brushed aside a news report and said that the news of purported planned resignations was “completely unfair, mischievous and incorrect”. A senior Congress leader said that while the counting was on, Congress president Sonia Gandhi dialled several leaders to hear their views on the situation. She, however, did not talk to any “G23” leader after the polls, the leader added.
A section of the “G23” leaders have maintained that the Aam Aadmi Party winning Punjab is an “alarming situation” as it indicates that anti-BJP voters have found an alternative to the Congress. But a second senior CWC member pointed out that “in the larger scheme of things, there is nothing to worry. As long as the BJP has lost power, we are okay with the situation. And also, we don’t think the AAP is a challenge for the Congress at a pan-Indian level”.
The CWC meeting will also take place in the backdrop of the upcoming organisational elections of the party later this year. “Whatever changes in the Congress leadership are required, it would happen later this year. It is not as if a new president would be elected in the CWC. But yes, some leaders are expected to appeal to Rahul Gandhi to announce that he will return at the helm. But so far, Rahul has not revealed his mind,” a leader considered close to Rahul Gandhi said, asking not to be named.
Last year, the Congress formed a panel to look into the shortcomings after the party failed to win any state in the five assembly elections of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry and Assam. Party leaders have not rule out the formation of another panel to look into the latest poll results.
The Parliament strategy meeting assumes importance as the latest assembly elections are likely to impact the Opposition’s strategies and the NDA’s parliamentary moves. With the AAP emboldened after its victory in Punjab, the Congress could find itself cornered in the Opposition quarters further, as the Trinamool Congress, which has stopped attending Congress-led meetings on floor coordination, may reach out to parties such as the AAP and Telangana Rashtra Samithi for a new consolidation.
