Kharge meets officer bearers, says worked hard for Delhi polls

Kharge chaired a meeting of office bearers days after the Congress drew a blank in Delhi assembly polls for a third time after losing elections in Haryana and Maharashtra

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the party worked hard for the Delhi polls despite a lack of resources as he chaired the first meeting with officer bearers after a reshuffle this month and said they would be held accountable for future election results amid a series of electoral losses.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, lawmaker Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)

He said Congress’s candidates, leaders, and workers in Delhi worked hard. “There was a lack of resources, yet you tried to fight the elections strongly. The people of Delhi voted in favour of the change,” he said

Kharge admitted that sometimes leaders were admitted in haste into the party and told general secretaries and state in-charges attending the meeting to include trustworthy and ideologically strong people. He asked them to avoid those who run away in difficult times. “All of you [office bearers] will be accountable for the organisation and future election results of the states under your charge,” he said days after nine leaders were inducted as general secretaries and state in-charges.

The party dropped Deepak Babaria and Rajiv Shukla as in-charge of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as part of the reshuffle. Ajoy Kumar was also among those replaced.

Kharge chaired the meeting days after the Congress drew a blank in Delhi assembly polls for a third time after failing to keep up the momentum of the national polls and losing elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overcame anti-incumbency in Haryana even as exit polls predicted Congress’s victory. The Congress failed to consolidate its national poll performance this summer when it won five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. In Maharashtra, the Congress emerged as the largest party in the national elections by winning 13 of the 48 seats. The Congress-led Opposition bloc won 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra as it registered unexpectedly strong results by winning 233 constituencies and restricting the BJP to 240 nationally, below the majority mark of 272.

Kharge asked the party to keep fighting and organising mass movements on public issues to become the people’s first choice. “It is your responsibility to strengthen the organisation from state headquarters to the booth as soon as possible. You will have to go to the booth for this work...work hard, and interact with the workers. Our [party] cells will have to be involved.”

He referred to the Indian National Trade Union Congress and said it is an important part of the party. “Involve it too in organisation building,” Kharge said. Kharge stressed getting new leaders as more changes were expected before the Bihar polls later this year. “If you go to the booth, mandal, block, district, state level...the grassroots level, then you will be able to add new people. You will be able to bring with you trustworthy and ideologically strong people. You can bring forward those people who can be very useful for the party, but did not get the opportunity,” Kharge said.

Kharge cautioned about the exodus of leaders, which the party has suffered since 2014, and underlined the need to promote ideologically committed workers. “We should promote people committed to the ideology of the Congress and stand with us like a rock even in adverse circumstances. Many are inducted in haste...to strengthen the party. But people who are weak in ideology run away in difficult times...We should stay away from such people,” Kharge said.

Kharge referred to the party’s programmes such as “Samvidhan Bachao Abhiyan (save Constitution campaign)” and suggested foot marches and corner meetings. “...the aim of every such programme should be the empowerment of the organisation.”

Kharge called voter list “manipulation” a new challenge. “...voter list manipulation is happening on a large scale. Rahul Gandhi raised a question about this in the Lok Sabha. ...the names of our supporters are deleted from the voter list...New names are added just before the elections. This rigging has to be stopped at any cost,” he said.

He referred to the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner (CEC) a day after the Supreme Court agreed to consider expedited hearing of pleas challenging the validity of a 2023 law for the appointment of CEC and election commissioners. Kharge echoed Rahul Gandhi’s allegations and said the country is facing countless challenges.

He accused the government of failing to curb inflation and unemployment. Kharge criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit. “Despite Modi’s visit, America is sending back Indian citizens [undocumented immigrants] handcuffed as before. Vegetarian passengers were given non-veg food. Our government failed to protest this insult properly. America is hurting us deeply even in economic matters. They imposed a tariff on us, but the Prime Minister did not even protest against it. They are imposing a loss-making deal on us, which our government is silently accepting. This is an insult to India and its people.”