Here's what Tharoor thinks can revive Congress’ sinking fortunes
Days after MP Shashi Tharoor said “it is time for the Congress leadership to inspire people,” the senior leader once again spoke of reforms within to revive the party’s sinking fortunes.
Tharoor said this on a day the Congress Working Committee is meeting to review the party’s poor show in the recently concluded assembly polls. He is also a part of the group of Congress leaders, called the “G23”, who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi two years back, questioning the party’s functioning and sought structural changes.
The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP and could not wrest Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur from the BJP. The party’s seat tally in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh also fell to its lowest.
Also read: Time to reform Congress in a way that inspires people, says Tharoor
Responding to those who say that Congress has no hope for revival, Tharoor on Sunday (March 13) tweeted a list of Congress MLAs across the country. He highlighted the fact that Congress has over 700 MLAs, the most after the BJP, which has over 1,400 elected members in state assemblies. “This is why incindia remains by far the most credible of the national opposition parties. It’s also why it’s worth reforming & reviving,’’ Tharoor tweeted.
On the day (March 10) results of five states were declared, Tharoor had said, “All of us who believe in @INCIndia are hurting from the results of the recent assembly elections. It is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and the positive agenda it offers the nation…And to reform our organisational leadership in a manner that will reignite those ideas and inspire the people.” “One thing is clear — Change is unavoidable if we need to succeed,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram had said.
Tharoor’s comments come on a day after President Sonia Gandhi suggested the “three of us” (referring to herself, Rahul and Priyanka) were willing to step down in the best interest of the party. The suggestion was turned down by all party leaders, including senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who, as a member of the “G 23”, has been very vocal about reforms in the party. There are also reports that a group of party leaders suggested the name of Mukul Wasnik as the next president, a demand turned down with a big majority.
Vivek Tankha, another G-23 leader, said recently Congress is not short of talent (for the post of party president). “What we need is a collective endeavour. Let’s do it. We can do it,” Tankha wrote hours before the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan chief minister Ashokh Gehlot suggested Rahul Gandhi should take over as party president. Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar supported Gehlot’s idea.
It may be noted that the Congress had a disastrous show in the assembly polls that concluded in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa recently. In Punjab, it lost the race to AAP, which had debuted only in the last state election.
