After poll drubbing, Congress chief says ‘need to put house in order’

The Congress fared poorly, drawing a blank in West Bengal and failing to win back power in Kerala and Assam, besides losing Puducherry.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the party has to take note of its serious setbacks in assembly polls, and face the reality to draw the right lessons and put its house in order. Addressing a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Gandhi said she intends to set up a small group to look at every aspect that caused such reverses and come back with its findings. The meeting of the top Congress body has been convened to deliberate and introspect on the party’s poor performance in the just-concluded assembly elections.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Congress fared poorly, drawing a blank in West Bengal and failing to win back power in Kerala and Assam, besides losing Puducherry. The party only came to power with the help of its ally DMK in Tamil Nadu. “We have to take note of our serious setbacks. To say that we are deeply disappointed is to make an understatement,” she told the meeting.

Gandhi said the party needs 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”. She asked the party general secretaries and in-charges of states where it lost to spell out clearly and frankly the reasons for the party’s defeat. “I expect them to brief us very frankly on our performance in their respective states.”

Cong postpones party president election

The CWC unanimously decided on Monday to postpone the election to the post of party president until the Covid-19 situation in the country improves. The Congress had earlier decided to have a new president in place before June 2021 and the party’s central election authority chaired by Madhusudan Mistry had proposed holding the election on June 23. But, top Congress leaders were of the view that holding the election right now would not be proper as the coronavirus situation in the country was very grim. Senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that no one in the party was seeking an election right now and thus the election should be postponed, sources said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!