CWC meet: Rahul urges party chief Kharge to 'crack the whip' after Maharashtra poll defeat
At CWC meet, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge castigated leaders and urged them not to make anti-party remarks adding that infighting was hurting the grand old party
After the Congress faced a humiliating defeat in Maharashtra assembly elections winning just 16 seats, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has urged party president Mallikarjun Kharge to "crack the whip".
Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Friday (November 29), Kharge castigated party leaders for making anti-party remarks and said infighting was hurting the Congress.
"Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?" Kharge asked at the CWC meeting.
Crack the whip
To this, Rahul Gandhi responded by saying, "Kharge ji has cracked the whip." Rahul also endorsed what the Congress chief had said.
Calling the Congress “organisation of resistance", Rahul urged the party chief to "crack the whip" . Party leaders should have faith in the Congress, he added.
The Congress suffered one of its worst electoral setbacks in the recently concluded Maharashtra elections. Its allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)- the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) too fared badly winning just 10 and 20 seats, respectively.
Further, Kharge also stressed that state Assembly polls should not be fought on national issues. "For how long will state leaders fight assembly polls on national issues with national leaders," he asked.
Though the mood in the country is in favour of the Congress, a favourable atmosphere does not guarantee victory. "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.
Also read: Tough decisions have to be taken, need to learn from poll results: Kharge at CWC meet
"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," he added.
He also called for removing shortcomings in the party by learning lessons from the election results and said the party would have to evolve a strategy to effectively counter the "propaganda and misinformation" by its rivals.
State reviews
The Congress said they will hold comprehensive state-wise reviews in Maharashtra and Haryana to address organisational weaknesses and assess the losses. Internal committees are being constituted and the members will visit the two states to speak to local leaders.
CWC resolution
Meanwhile, the CWC resolution urging members not to be "disheartened or to panic", called its members to persevere with renewed determination and resolve.
“Unity and discipline are called for now more than ever before," the CWC resolution read.
"The party must keep reinforcing its narrative. This includes caste census to ensure full social justice, removal of the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs, control of growing monopolies in the economy through political patronage and continuing price rise and growing unemployment," it said.
Some senior leaders also brought up the issue of accessibility of the top brass during the CWC meeting. Veteran leader Mohan Prakash said the interaction of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi with Congress workers should be restored so that party workers can meet them directly.
