The recent Assembly election was a clear indication that the Congress needed to put its house in order, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told a virtual meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on May 10.
She said calling the results disappointing would be an understatement and announced the setting up of a small group to analyse the results.
“We need to candidly understand why in Kerala and Assam we failed to dislodge the incumbent governments, and why in West Bengal we drew a complete blank. These will yield uncomfortable lessons, but if we do not face up to the reality, if we do not look the facts in the face, we will not draw the right lessons,” she said in her opening remarks.
Ms. Gandhi also asked Assam general secretary Jitender Singh, Kerala general secretary Tariq Anwar and West Bengal in-charge Jitin Prasada to make a presentation and explain why the party lost in these States.
“I expect them to brief us very frankly on our performance in their respective States. We want them to tell us why we performed well below expectation. These results tell us clearly that we need to put our house in order,” she said.
Full-time Congress chief
Ms. Gandhi also wanted the opinion of the CWC on the issue of appointing a full-time Congress chief by June-end as per the party’s earlier schedule before the second coronavirus wave hit.
She informed the meeting that the party’s Central Election Authority chief Madhusudan Mistry had already worked out a schedule.
Also read: Should the Gandhis disengage from the Congress?
The issue of leadership is crucial as the group of 23 Congress dissenters (G-23) had been pushing for a revamp of the party organisation. Some prominent G-23 members such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are also members of the CWC.
“There is another important issue on which I would like your guidance. When we met on January 22nd, we had decided that the process for electing a Congress president would be completed by end-June,” she said.
Modi flayed on COVID-19
Ms. Gandhi slammed the Narendra Modi government for ignoring expert advice on COVID-19 and allowing it become a “catastrophe”. The Congress leader also targeted the government for being “woefully short” on vaccination.
“...the country is paying a horrendous price for the Modi government’s neglect of the pandemic, indeed its wilful patronage of super-spreader events that were allowed for partisan gains. A far deadlier second wave has now overwhelmed us. Some scientists have now cautioned about a third wave overtaking us soon. Some States have already announced a complete lockdown. The public health system across the country has all but collapsed,” she said.