New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is scheduled to meet on Monday amid the repeated demands by several party leaders for introspection over its dismal performance in the recently held Assembly polls and the need for a course correction.
"The meeting will be held virtually on Monday at 11 am. Though no agenda has been given to us, it is quite expected that the party's performance in the Assembly polls is going to be discussed," a CWC member told ETV Bharat.
The Congress had pinned hopes on Kerala and Assam in view of which the party's former president Rahul Gandhi went all out in these two states. While in Assam, the BJP retained power after winning 60 out of 126 seats, the Congress could secure only 29 seats. In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 97 of the state's 140 seats, whereas the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won only 47 seats.
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The Congress' loss in Kerala is considered as the most disappointing as it defied the state's four-decade-old tradition of changing governments every five years, alternating between the LDF and the UDF.
Results of the other two states and a union territory were not satisfying either. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress' reasonable success is attributed to its coalition partner, the DMK. The grand old party drew a blank in West Bengal despite stitching an alliance with the Left parties. It lost the electoral battle in Puducherry too.
During the parliamentary party meeting on Friday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had hinted at conveying a meeting of the CWC. "Most unfortunately, our own performance in all the states was very disappointing and if I may say, unexpectedly so. We as a party collective must draw appropriate lessons from this setback in a spirit of humility and honesty," she had said.
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Many leaders fear that the party is fading quickly in states even as regional parties are rising into prominence. The party hopes for a course correction as it braces up for the Assembly polls in 2022, which also includes Uttar Pradesh, a crucial state for the Congress to prove its existence in the Hindi heartland.
Earlier, Congress' senior leader and former law minister Ashwani Kumar had told ETV Bharat, "Clearly, the Congress needs to recognize the reality of its decline and take steps to reinvigorate itself in the best traditions of ideological commitments and collaborative functioning at all levels."
