Shri Mallikarjun Kharge’s opening statement in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting

All the members of the Working Committee, all of you are welcome. First of all, I congratulate Priyanka Gandhi ji for winning the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad and Ravindra Vasantrao Chavan from Nanded. Congratulations also to all the victorious Congress candidates in the states. Friends, after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, the Congress Party had made a comeback with new vigour. But after that, the election results of 3 states were not as per our expectations. INDIA parties formed government in 2 out of 4 states. But our performance was below expectation. This is a challenge for us in terms of future. We need to immediately learn from the election results and correct all our weaknesses and shortcomings at the organizational level. These results are a message for us.

The most important thing that I keep saying again and again is that lack of unity and statements against each other harm us a lot. Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?

Therefore, it is important that we follow discipline strictly at all times. We have to remain united under all circumstances. The Party also has the weapon of discipline. But we do not want to put our colleagues in any bondage. Therefore, everyone needs to think that the victory of the Congress Party is our victory and the defeat is our defeat. Our strength lies in the strength of the Party.

Friends, the atmosphere was in our favour in the elections. But just the atmosphere being in our favour is not a guarantee of victory. We have to learn to convert the atmosphere into results. What is the reason that we are not able to take advantage of the atmosphere?

That is why, we have to work hard and make strategies in a timely manner. We will have to strengthen our organisation to the very end to the booth level. We will have to be vigilant, alert and cautious day and night from the preparation of the voter list to the counting of 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 organization is not up to expectations. Our biggest need is to strengthen the organization.

We may have lost the elections, but there is no doubt that unemployment, inflation, economic inequality are burning issues of this country. Caste census is also an important issue today. Issues like Constitution, social justice and harmony are issues of the people.

But this does not mean that we forget the important public issues in the electoral states. It is also important to understand the different issues of the states in detail in time and make a solid campaign strategy around it. How long will you fight the state elections with the help of National issues and National Leaders?

The recent election results also indicate that we should start our election preparations in the states at least 1 year in advance. Our team should be present in the field before time. The first thing we should do is to check the voter lists so that the votes of our supporters remain in the list under all circumstances.

The next thing I want to say is, we cannot get success all the time by following the old pattern. We have to see on a daily basis what your political opponent is doing. We have to take timely decisions. We have to fix accountability.

I want to say one more thing. Sometimes we become our own worst enemy. We will talk negatively and pessimistically about ourselves and say that we do not have any narrative, then I ask whose responsibility is it to make a narrative and take it to the public?

This is our collective responsibility. The narrative that we had spread at the national level is still applicable. I believe that the EVM has made the electoral process suspicious. The Election Commission is a constitutional institution, so the less said about it the better. But it is the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections in the country. Questions are being raised repeatedly as to what extent this responsibility is being fulfilled. After the kind of results that came in favour of the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections just 6 months ago, the results of the Vidhan Sabha elections are beyond the understanding of even the political pundits. The kind of results that have come are such that no arithmetic is capable of justifying them.

We will have to improve the ways of contesting elections in every situation. Because times have changed. The ways of contesting elections have changed. We will have to make our micro-communication strategy better than the opponents’. We will also have to find ways to fight the propaganda and the misinformation. We will have to move forward by learning lessons from the previous results. We have to remove the shortcomings. We will have to take tough decisions with confidence. Due to our repeated defeats, the fascist forces are making their roots deeper. One-by-one, they are taking over the institutions of the state as well. We are celebrating the 75th year of the Constitution. In these 75 years, the Congress Party has done a great job with historic achievements in India. It is only because of the Constitution that our country is in the front row in the world. If any Party deserves the most credit for making and implementing the Constitution, it is the Congress. It empowered the common people of the country and gave them their rights. In the last 11 years, a large section of the common have-nots has emerged, who are troubled by unemployment, inflation and increasing inequality. We have to become their strong voice. It is important for the Congress Party to come to power because if we form the government, we can implement the agenda of 140 crore people of the country. We can implement the agenda of the progress of India. There are many things. From Manipur to Sambhal, these are very serious issues. BJP is trying to raise many religious issues through various means to divert the attention of the country from its failures. We have to defeat the divisive forces in power at any cost. We have to restore progress, peace and brotherhood in the country. Because we have built this wonderful country, crores of people of the country are ready to give us power. They are waiting for us. We cannot disappoint them. After achieving encouraging results in the Lok Sabha elections, we have suffered a setback in the Vidhan Sabha elections. That is why we will have to take tough decisions. In the end, I want to say that we do not need to be disheartened by defeat. We will have to bring about change from the grassroots level, block, district to the AICC with a new resolve. We will have to bring about the necessary changes with time. We have overcome challenges in the past as well. So, we have to move forward by overcoming the current challenges. Thank you.

Jai Congress! Jai Hind!