Today’s agenda is the signature campaign and there is no other agenda, Congressional sources said. (Archive)
Highlight
- The meeting will be held at 5 pm by videoconference.
- Today’s agenda is the signature campaign, there is no other agenda: Sources
- The electoral debacle has sparked a public uproar among top leaders
New Delhi:
A special congressional committee, formed to assist party chief Sonia Gandhi, will meet today as the party reels from its dismal performance in Bihar, as well as by-elections across the country, party sources said. However, this is a routine meeting for local administrative matters, Congressional sources said.
The meeting will take place at 5 pm by videoconference.
Today’s agenda is the signature drive and there is no other agenda, and with the president of Congress absent, no real and meaningful discussion on Bihar can take place, according to panelists who declined to record.
The electoral debacle also sparked a public uproar among its top leaders after Kapil Sibal’s outspoken criticism of the party’s leadership. Mr. Sibal had called for “experienced minds, experienced hands and those who understand political realities” to revive the organization. He also said that “the time for introspection is over.”
“… we have to do several things at various levels: organizationally, articulating in the media in whatever form, introducing the people that people want to hear, providing active and thoughtful leadership that can be articulated with a lot of circumspection,”, Sibal told the Indian Express newspaper. Congressmen, he said, “must recognize that we are in decline.”
Refuting Sibal, Rajasthan’s chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, said Monday that it was “not necessary” for his colleague to mention “internal issues” in the media. In a series of tweets. Gehlot also said that after each electoral defeat, the party had demonstrated “a firm and undivided faith in the leadership of the party” and had emerged stronger from each crisis.
Sibal was one of 23 congressional leaders behind the “letter of dissent” that sparked an all-out showdown within the party in August, but changed little except for the rejection of major letter writers. The letter had suggested radical changes after Congress lost power in Madhya Pradesh after a revolt from Jyotiraditya Scindia and barely saved its Rajasthan government after a rebellion.
The special Congressional panel meeting today was formed in August to assist Ms. Gandhi with organizational and operational issues. Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala are its members. Patel, who tested positive for coronavirus, is currently hospitalized in Gurgaon.
In last week’s election results in Bihar, the opposition won 110 seats, a dozen less than the mark for the majority in the 243-member assembly. Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the largest party, but Congress, which contested 70 seats but won only 19, turned out to be dead weight.
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