INC to form 'Fact-Finding Committee' to review party's election debacle

After facing another failure in the recently held Assembly elections, the Indian National Congress party has decided to constitute a task force or a 'Fact-Finding Committee' to analyse the party's performance specifically in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal. The decision was taken during the Congress Working Committee meeting held on Monday.

New Delhi: After facing another failure in the recently held Assembly elections, the Indian National Congress party has decided to constitute a task force or a 'Fact-Finding Committee' to analyse the party's performance specifically in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal. The decision was taken during the Congress Working Committee meeting held on Monday.

While addressing a press conference after the meeting, Congress General Secretary in charge KC Venugopal said, "The fact-finding committee will be formed soon and it will go into the details why Congress had failed in these states. Later, Congress Working Committee will discuss it."

The group will be constituted within the next 48 hours by Venugopal. During the meeting, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had also asserted that because of the party's performance in Assembly polls, there is a need to put the "house in order".

She said in her opening statement, "We have to take note of our serious setbacks. To say that we are deeply disappointed is to make an understatement. I intend to set up a small group to look at every aspect that caused such reverses and report back very quickly," she said during her opening remarks in the meeting."

She further added, "We need to candidly understand why in Kerala and Assam we failed to dislodge the incumbent governments, and why in West Bengal we drew a complete blank. These will yield uncomfortable lessons, but if we do not face up to the reality, if we do not look the facts in the face, we will not draw the right lessons."

As the Congress party failed to get even a single seat in West Bengal, the sources said that a question was being raised in the meeting over the difference in the party's stand at the Center and the state level. It is because the Central leadership preferred either to remain silent or having a soft corner for Mamata Banerjee. While on the other hand, the state leadership took a strong stand against her, which created confusion among the voters.

During the discussion over the results of the Assam election, one of the senior leaders of the Congress party complained against the party's decision to get into an alliance with AIUDF, stating that the benefit of such an alliance goes to the rival allies. Some leaders also expressed their concerns over Congress' alliance with ISF and AIUDF, claiming that the decision may harm the party's recently enacted Hindutva agenda.

Meanwhile, in Kerala, the party leaders accepted that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government's management of Covid-19 impacted the result of Assembly Elections a lot.