At CWC Meet After Maharashtra Loss, Kharge Calls For 'Tough Decisions', Rebukes In-fighting: 'Stop Making…'
The meeting was chaired by Kharge and was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Jairam Ramesh, among others.
Congress leaders met on Friday to deliberate on its electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana, following which party chief Mallikarjun Kharge stressed that "tough decisions" will have to be taken in order to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots and fix accountability, urging leaders to stay united and avoid speaking publicly against each other.
Addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting at the AICC headquarters, Kharge stated that the EVMs have made the electoral process "suspect" and asserted that it is the Election Commission's constitutional responsibility to ensure free and fair polls in the country.
Kharge also slammed the internal bickering in the Congress, stressing that the lack of unity and remarks against own party leaders brings harm to the party. "Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?" the Congress president said.
He also said that the shortcomings must be removed in the party by learning lessons from the recent election results, adding that the party would have to make a strategy to counter the "propaganda and misinformation" which he said was being spread by its rivals.
"Therefore, it is important that we strictly follow discipline. We have to remain united under all circumstances. The party also has the weapon of disciplining. But we do not want to put our workers in any bondage. Therefore, everyone needs to think that a victory of the Congress party is our victory and a defeat is our defeat. Our strength lies in the strength of the party," the Congress president said, motivating workers and asking them to not get dejected with election results.
Speaking on the Maharashtra polls, Kharge stated that the assembly poll results after a favourable outcome in Lok Sabha elections left the party in shock.
He said some "tough decisions" will have to be taken given the "below expectation" performance in the state polls.
The Congress chief said that the party was riding on its Lok Sabha performance and went into assembly polls with new enthusiasm, but the results did not turn out to be as per the party's expectations.
"After the kind of results that came in favour of MVA in the Lok Sabha just six months ago, the result of the assembly polls is beyond the understanding of even political pundits. The kind of results that have come - no arithmetic can justify them," he stated.
"INDIA parties formed the government in 2 out of 4 states. But our performance was below expectations. This is a challenge for us in terms of the future," Kharge said.
"We need to immediately learn from the election results and correct all our weaknesses and shortcomings at the organisational level. These results are a message for us," he said.
The meeting was chaired by Kharge and was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Jairam Ramesh, among others.
Noting that the mood was in the Congress' favour during the polls, he highlighted that merely the atmosphere being in its favour does not mean the victory is assured.
"We will have to learn to convert the atmosphere into results. What is the reason that we are not able to take advantage of the atmosphere?" he said.
Calling on party leaders to work hard and devise strategies in a timely manner, Kharge said: "We will have to strengthen our organisation up to the booth level. We will have to be vigilant, alert and cautious day and night, from making the voter list to counting the votes".
"Our preparation from the beginning till the counting of votes should be such that our workers and systems work diligently. In many states, our organisation is not up to expectations. Our biggest need is to strengthen the organisation," he added.
The Congress chief said that even though the party may have lost elections, there is no doubt that the country is facing issues of unemployment, inflation, and economic inequality. He also asserted that caste census is a critical issue today.
Kharge called upon party workers and leaders to begin the preparation for upcoming elections in advance and scrutinise the previous electoral rolls properly.
"Ways to fight propaganda and misinformation will also have to be found. We will have to move forward by learning lessons from the previous results. The shortcomings have to be removed. Tough decisions will have to be taken with confidence," he said.
Kharge also told his party members that the party can no longer achieve success by following traditional methods. "You have to see what your political opponent is doing on a daily basis. We have to take decisions on time. Accountability has to be fixed," he said.
While the Maha Vikas Aghadi, of which the Congress is a part, was faced a crushing defeat in the Maharashtra polls, the party's alliance led by the JMM scored a victory in Jharkhand. However, in Haryana, the Congress suffered a massive defeat against the BJP.
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