The Congress top brass will go into a two-day huddle to discuss the party’s performance in the just concluded Assembly bypolls and a poor show again in Uttar Pradesh, where except for party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi no one managed to win in the lok Sabha elections.
The AICC general secretaries, general secretaries in-charge of States and pradesh presidents will meet in lucknow on September 28-29 for the purpose.The meeting has been convened as a “warm-up session” before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) takes up the AK Anony panel’s report which has examined the reasons for the worst-ever performance of Congress in the general elections.
“The meeting has been called a day after the nominations in the poll-bound States of Maharashtra and Haryana ends. The strategy to retain power in both the States and the Modi Government’s performance besides its impact on the people will also be discussed,” said an AICC functionary.The Antony-headed committee comprising AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, AICC secretaries RC Khuntia and Avinash Pandey was set up a fortnight after the general election results and submitted its report to Sonia on August 14.
Sources said the Antony report was just a formality. The report did not blame Rahul and his leadership for the debacle. Instead, it identified price rise, loopholes in Congress' communication strategy and the media's focus on Narendra Modi as some of the factors responsible for the Congress' performance.
Early this month, as many as 16 young AICC secretaries met a couple of times and demanded a greater role for the "young brigade" in the organisation under the leadership of Rahul. In the run-up to the Assembly elections in Congress-ruled Haryana and Maharashtra next month, the "young brigade" wants to focus on a strategy to retain power and discuss ways to sharpen the attack on rival parties.