CPP loses out to ‘superbody’ core group
The Congress Parliamentary Party is losing its importance after the emergence of the core group which has become a superbody for all important decisions in the party and the government which are later endorsed by the relevant bodies. The just-concluded Budget Session of Parliament did not see a single meeting of the CPP general body convened at a time when the ruling party is confronted with problems.
Normally, the CPP general body meets twice in a Parliament Session. In the old days, even important bills used to be discuss in the CPP meetings before the Congress governments introduced it in Parliament. But this practice has almost stopped.
The core group consisting of the top brass of the party and its leaders in the government has become an all-powerful body nowadays making the CWC secondary, atleast at the perception level.
The Congress managers were unable to convince as to why the CPP general body had not been called when the party and the Centre was confronted with problems.
This appeared to be unusual since at least one meeting used to be held during the several Parliament sessions in the recent past though the usual practice is to have two such meetings — one at the start of the session and the other at the end.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also chairperson of the UPA, started the party journal Congress Sandesh, a decade back to have a direct communication with the rank and file.
But the latest issue of the party mouthpiece does not have her “message to party workers”.
Generally, all issues of the journal, by and large, have carried a letter addressed by her to partymen conveying the party stand on key issues then in public domain.
Mrs Gandhi’s address to the CPP as also her “letter to Congress workers” this time was being awaited by partymen as they would have provided a broad idea on the party’s stand ahead of Assembly elections in five states.
Party spokesperson Manish Tewari disagreed with any suggestion that Mrs Gandhi’s interaction with partymen was reduced, terming it as “absolutely robust at every level”.
“There is a regular interaction of Congress leaders at various levels and ordinary party activists directly with the Congress president. There are structured platforms within the party which meet according to their need,” he insisted.
The meetings of the Congress Working Committee(CWC), the apex policy making body of the party, have also been far less in the recent years.
Mrs Gandhi, only last month, reconstituted the CWC which has only met once to condole the death of veteran leader Arjun Singh.
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