Congress terms it rumours; CWC meeting to discuss poll debacle today
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the poll debacle in five States, is likely to be eventful and could include offers of resignations by Sonia Gandhi as interim party president and Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi as general secretaries.
Though the party officially stated that all these are mere rumours created by certain sections of media at the instance of the BJP, insiders said the resignations are a possibility as the mood even with the party’s first family is quite sombre.
In the event of Sonia quitting, senior leader like Mallikarjun Kharge or Ghulam Nabi Azad may be appointed to take the party towards the conduct of the organisational elections, sources said.
AICC sources said the much-delayed party president election too could be advanced to stem dissidence and put the house in order. In the meantime, a day before the CWC meet, influential Karnataka leader CM Ibrahim joined the list of leaders quitting the Congress. He tendered his resignation saying his grievances for the past 12 years were never addressed despite assurances by Congress president Sonia.
Sonia will chair the meeting of the party’s top decision-making body at its headquarters. AICC sources said the meeting is likely to see some straight talk from the G-23 leaders who had suggested corrective measures after the previous round of Assembly polls, when the party lost Puducherry and failed to make a mark in Kerala, Assam and West Bengal, but there had been little movement on that front.
The leaders of G-23, who have been demanding an organisational overhaul, had met Friday evening at the residence of senior leader Azad to evolve their strategy ahead of the crucial CWC meeting.
Azad and senior leader Anand Sharma are the two leaders of the group who are part of the CWC. Besides the two, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari too dropped in the meeting held at the residence of Azad within 24 hours of the declaration of the results of elections in five States.
Sources said besides evaluating the polls, the prime concern will now be to raise the pitch for immediate rehaul of the organisational structure and a “full time active party president” without waiting till September when the organisational polls are scheduled.
In the just concluded Assembly elections, the Congress lost Punjab to the AAP and could not win any of the four other States — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur — even though it believed it could wrest power from the BJP in Uttarakhand and Goa.
The ‘Group of 23’, at their Friday meeting, expressed shock at the party’s defeat. Sources said the leaders discussed the way forward and steps for the revival of the Congress which has become even “more marginalised, weakened and isolated’’.
They also expressed dismay at the Congress leadership not taking any corrective steps to revive the party, they said. Some leaders were concerned that the report of the committee formed to evaluate the party’s losses in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry was not even discussed.
Following the poll debacle, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is among the G-23 leaders, had on Thursday said it is clear that change is unavoidable.
“All of us who believe in INC India are hurting from the results of the recent Assembly elections,” he said.
“It is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and the positive agenda it offers the nation.’’And to reform our organisational leadership in a manner that will reignite those ideas and inspire the people. One thing is clear, change is unavoidable if we need to succeed,” he had tweeted.
For his part, Ibrahim is likely to join the JD(S). Stating that he is also resigning as MLC, he said, “I have sent in the letter addressed to Chairman Legislative Council to Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Siddaramaiah, he can get it accepted by submitting. I have done this because, in case my resignation is accepted, BJP will get majority in the council and can easily get the anti-conversion bill (which is pending in the Council) passed. I leave it to them.”
His decision to quit the Congress comes in the wake of the party appointing B K Hariprasad as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, the post which he was eyeing. He has also accused the Congress of neglecting the minority community leaders, and using the community only as vote bank.
Ibrahim, a former Union Minister and one-time close associate of Deve Gowda, had joined Congress in 2008, and had been sulking for some time now, upset with the party and Siddaramaiah.