Cong to hold chintan shivir?
Talk of holding a Narora-type brainstorming session has begun in the Congress with party leaders, including MPs, feeling this is necessary in view of emerging issues.
The Congress had held such brainstorming sessions over three days in September 1998 at Panchmarhi and later in Shimla in July 2003. They were called at the instance of party chief Sonia Gandhi at a time when the Congress was in the Opposition at the Centre.
This time the issues are not only different but are more serious than those of 1998 and 2003. If inflation and corruption have posed major challenges to the party and the Centre, coalitions have become a hurdle in its growth in key states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Goa. The party’s pathetic performance in the Bihar and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections shows an erosion in its political support base due to coalitions,
The Congress is not comfortable with its allies in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and J&K while its chief minister in Goa is facing a mining scam. The Koda experiment in Jharkhand further weakened the party.
According to party insiders, there is no forum available to discuss the real issues. “There should be a clear line on key issues. If our chief minister finds fault with the ally after the Mumbai bomb blasts, if leaders blame the Trinamul Congress for checking growth, how can we function,” they asked. While a power struggle among the senior Union ministers of the Congress is sending out the wrong message, confusion on the Telangana issue and the demand for smaller states has not been addressed with a clear vision so far.
A section of civil society will try to exploit persons like Anna Hazare to consolidate the anti-Congress parties ahead of the Assembly elections, they feared. The party has not been able to revive itself in the Hindi heartland, barring Rajasthan and Delhi. The next electoral battle will be fought in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal, Gujarat and Goa.
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