Three months after the general elections, All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Odisha BK Hariprasad and secretary Subhankar Sarkar on Wednesday began one-to-one talks with all Assembly and lok Sabha candidates of the party and DCC presidents at the Congress Bhavan here to ascertain the reasons of the party’s dismal performance in the State.
On the first day of the discussions, Hariprasad and Sarkar heard the versions of 80 leaders. At the end of the two-day exercise, the AICC leaders would compile their views and submit a report to the party high command.
The exercise is a follow-up to the AK Antony Committee report on the party’s organisational affairs in the country. The party’s perception that it has a large vote base in rural areas in Odisha had also been proved wrong from the results of the last two panchayat elections with its vote share drastically plummeting to 18 per cent from 38 per cent.
During the discussions on Wednesday, most of the party leaders reportedly cited intraparty squabbling as the main cause of the party’s defeat. Since neither the central nor the State leadership inspired public confidence, leaders were left with no other work but mudslinging.
Meanwhile, senior State Congress leader Hemanand Biswal on Wednesday met AICC president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and discussed about the State party affairs. Biswal told the media that he suggested Gandhi to appoint an experienced person as the PCC president.
On the party poll performance review meeting in Bhubaneswar, Biswal said, “I don’t feel there is any significance of holding such a fresh review after AK Antony Committee’s submission of a report regarding the poll debacle.”