Towards Course Correction to Revamp and Strengthen the Party

New Delhi: Congress Working Committee had a five hours long meeting to discuss the election results of the last five state assembly elections that were held on March 13, 2022, at the AICC Headquarters in New Delhi. A comprehensive report was submitted by each of the In-charges of the five election going states, whether it was Shri Harish Choudhary for Punjab and then Shri Ajay Maken, who was Chairman of the Screening Committee in Punjab; or whether it was Shri Devender Yadav, In-charge of Uttarakhand and Shri Harish Rawat, who is a former Chief Minister and Chairman of the Campaign Committee in Uttarakhand; or whether it was Shri Dinesh Gundu Rao, In-charge of Goa and Shri P. Chidambaram, who is a Senior Observer for Goa; or whether it was Shri Bhakta Charan Das, who is In-charge of Manipur and Shri Jairam Ramesh, who is a Senior Observer for Manipur; or whether it was Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Ji, who is In-charge, General Secretary for state of Uttar Pradesh and Shri Bhupesh Baghel, Senior Observer for Uttar Pradesh. So each one of them presented their reports to the Congress Working Committee, gave out detailed reasons of what they felt were the plus-es and the minus-es for the party, also gave out detailed reasoning of what according to them ( as also according to the Senior Observer of the party in the respective state ) went wrong, where does the party need to be strengthened, what is it that needs to be set right and what according to them should be the course corrections for the future in those particular states.

After that, the Congress Working Committee members including all the senior leaders participated in the discussion to analyse the results. Many former General Secretaries, like the former General Secretary In-charge of UP, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shri Digvijaya Singh, also chipped in with their suggestions, also gave out their own experience of when they had failed in those respective states. It was a sincere discussion, a fruitful discussion that happened in the Working Committee and the Working Committee unanimously accepted a statement, which is as follows:

Statement of the CWC: “The recent Assembly election results of five states are a cause of serious concern for the Indian National Congress. The party accepts that due to shortcomings in our strategy, we could not effectively expose the misrule of BJP State Governments in four States and overcome the anti-incumbency in the State of Punjab in the short time after effecting a change of leadership. Congress Party represents the hopes of millions of Indians against political authoritarianism prevailing in the country today and the party is fully conscious of its immense responsibility.

The CWC expresses its gratitude to millions of Congress workers and leaders across the five states, who worked tirelessly for the party and its candidates.

While humbly accepting the electoral verdict of the latest round of Assembly elections, the Congress party assures its workers and the people of India that it will continue to remain a vigilant and vibrant opposition. The Congress Party will be fully prepared to face the electoral challenges in the election going states in 2022 & 2023 as well as in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The CWC unanimously reaffirms its faith in the leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and requests the Congress President to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary & comprehensive organisational changes in order to take on the political challenges”.

Every single member of the Congress Party unanimously believed that they have absolute faith in the leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji shall continue to lead us until the conclusion of the organizational elections.

CWC also decided to have a detailed deliberation on the party strategy and way forward in the upcoming elections in 2022, 2023 and 2024. A Chintan Shivir of the senior leaders will be held immediately after the current parliament session. Before the Chintan Shivir, the CWC will meet once again to discuss the matters to be taken up in the meeting including the organisational changes and the strategies.

Hon’ble Congress President will immediately take up the immediate correction measures to revamp and strengthen the organisation.

The CWC meeting was attended by all the members of the CWC except Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri A.K. Antony, Shri Gaikhangam, Shri Lal Thanhwala, Shri Chella Kumar and Shri G. Sanjeeva Reddy. The two Chief Ministers one of Rajasthan, Shri Ashok Gehlot and the other of Chhattishgarh Shri Bhupesh Baghel were also present in the meeting.