Post the lok Sabha poll debacle, the Congress on Monday gave a free hand to its vice-president Rahul Gandhi to carry on the “legacy” of the grand old party with the Congress Working Committee bestowing its full faith and confidence in Rahul’s future leadership.
Before that Rahul, led by his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi, offered to resign from their posts owning full responsibility for the most disastrous performance of the party in its electoral history.
The offer of resignation was, however, turned down unanimously by Congress Working Committee (CWC) members including outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said that “resignations” from responsibilities is “not the solution” for problems. Singh himself chose to accept the responsibility and said shortcomings existed at the Government level.
The Congress president said: “I believe I have not been able to bring about the necessary changes to strengthen the party. Therefore, I take full responsibility for this crushing defeat and I am prepared to relinquish my position.”
While speculation was rife that some members would press for a larger role for Priyanka Vadra and criticize the role of Rahul’s team of advisers, nothing of this sort happened.
“Neither Priyanka nor Rahul’s advisers were discussed,” said a CWC member. Rahul chose to fix accountability of individuals, including his own, for the drubbing and suggested that everybody should take the matter seriously and defeat the “RSS-backed” BJP which has been successful in polarizing voters of the country.While talking about accountability, sources quoted Rahul as saying that “When I talk about accountability, I must initiate by offering to resign.”
CWC members, however, reposed faith and credibility in his leadership and vowed to fight back with greater zeal in the Assembly elections due in five States in the next one year. In the midst of indications of a major organizational change at all levels, the apex body authorized Sonia Gandhi to carry out the “thorough revamp”.
“Accountability has been talked about. Wait for the reorganisation,” AICC general secretary in-charge of organization Janardan Dwivedi said while briefing the media after the CWC meeting. Dwivedi said the CWC’s resolution pledged to the millions of Congress workers that it would create within the party opportunities and structures that would pave the way for a “thorough revamp of the organization at all levels.”
For the first time in its history, the CWC held both the Government as-well-as party responsible for the electoral failure. It also pointed that corrective measures must be taken at the level of the party and at the level of the Congress -ruled State Governments. The apex decision making body of the Congress congratulated Manmohan Singh for his “dignified and sober leadership as Prime Minister over the past decade”.
“It (CWC) is confident that history will be more objective to the accomplishments of the past decade than the 2014 electoral verdict would suggest,” said the CWC resolution. While members also appreciated the “untiring” efforts of the Gandhis who travelled and campaigned across the length and breadth of the country, it also accepted “with humility” the verdict of the people in the just-concluded lok Sabha polls.
“It is obvious that there were shortcomings. It is also clear that we failed to read the profound changes that had taken place in the country during the ten years since the UPA was voted to form the Government. Changes that were, in large measure, due to the policies, programmes and legislation that had ushered in an era of rapid growth, empowerment of the people and high expectation. Above all, we should introspect as to why we were unable to connect with the electorate,” said the two-page resolution.
Twenty-nine of the 38 members present expressed and shared their viewpoints for revamping of the party from the grass root level. The communication strategy of the party also came under severe criticism at the meeting which saw some general secretaries also expressing their readiness to quit their posts in order to give the party leadership a free hand in reorganizing the party structure as per the requirement. The role of a “hostile media” also came in for scrutiny at the meet with most of the leaders feeling that there was a slant in general reporting in favour of the BJP. CWC members those who attended include Ajit Jogi, Amarinder Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anil Shastri, Shakeel Ahmad, Ajay Maken, Beni Prasad Verma and Oscar Fernandes.