E-Paper
'Self criticism is...': Sonia Gandhi's message to Congress leaders at CWC meet
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi during the CWC meet said self-criticism is of course needed in the party forums. But this should not be done in a manner that self-confidence and morale is eroded and an atmosphere of gloom and doom becomes all-pervasive.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the grand old party met in the AICC headquarters in the capital to work out the modalities and agenda of its brainstorming session to be held in Rajasthan's Udaipur from May 13 to 15. Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the members of the CWC are present in the meeting held just three days before the three-day Chintan Shivir .
“You may recall that at the end of our last meeting, I had announced that we will be organizing a Chintan Shivir soon. We are therefore meeting in Udaipur on May 13th, 14th and 15th. Around 400 of our colleagues will participate. The vast majority of them hold or have held one position or the other in the organization or in the Union government. We have made every effort to ensure balanced representation—balance from every angle,” Sonia Gandhi said in her opening remarks at the meet.
“Our deliberations will be in six groups. These will take up political, economic, social justice, farmers, youth and organizational issues. Delegates have already been informed about which group in which they are expected to participate. On the afternoon of May 15th we will be adopting the Udaipur Nav Sankalp after it has been approved by the CWC there,” she added.
According to media reports, the Congress held its ‘chintan shivirs' in 1998, 2003 and 2013. Out of these, the 2003 session in Shimla was beneficial for the party as it came to power a year later after defeating the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ruled the country for ten years. But the Congress has been facing losses in elections after elections since 2014. The party has been reduced to 29 seats in the Rajya Sabha and 53 in the Lok Sabha.
The Congress suffered a resounding defeat in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. Month after the poll defeat, the grand old party announced the formation of an Empowered Action Group for 2024 to address the political challenges ahead, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said at a press conference on April 21. The group was formed after a series of meetings between the Congress top brass and poll strategist Prashant Kishor who denied joining the party.
