Disquiet has surfaced in the Congress after reports that party President Rahul Gandhi blamed inaction of senior leaders as the reason for the electoral debacle.
In States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, party rank and file have started demanding the leadership to fix the responsibility for the worst performance, while in Karnataka, too, the Congress camp is worried that the government may have to face fresh problems.
Apart from Congress presidents of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh units, offers for resignations have been made from Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam too. Punjab PCC president Sunil Jakhar, who lost to actor Sunny Deol, Jharkhand’s chief Ajoy Kumar and Assam unit president Ripun Bora have written to the AICC offering to quit. No decisions, however, have been taken by the leadership on this.
The reports that Gandhi criticised Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath for focussing entirely on the constituencies of their sons have added fuel to the infighting. At least two Ministers in Gehlot’s Cabinet have supported the reported stance of Gandhi and demanded the leadership to take action against those who are responsible for the defeat.
Rajasthan Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said if Rahul Gandhi finds fault with senior leaders, it is part of his right to fix accountability and take corrective steps. Another Minister Bhanwarlal Meghwal said action should be taken “so a message is sent to the workers”. The reports also said Gandhi criticised senior leader P Chidambaram, for focussing on Sivaganga where his son Karti Chidambaram was party’s candidate. Gehlot, meanwhile, held a meeting with party’s organisation in-charge KC Venugopal.
Party’s media in-charge Randeep Surjewala said he expects everyone, including the media, to respect the sanctity of a closed-door meeting of the Congress Working Committee. “Various conjectures, speculation, insinuations, assumptions, gossip and rumour-mongering in a section of the media are uncalled for and unwarranted,” he said in a statement issued on Monday. “The CWC held a collective deliberation on the performance of the party, the challenges before it and the way ahead, instead of casting aspersions on the role or the conduct of any specific individual. The gist of the deliberations was made public in the CWC resolution of May 25, 2019,”.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that Gandhi is still insisting that he must be allowed to resign. The CWC had unanimously rejected his offer to resign.