M A I N   N E W S

Sonia, Rahul set to offer resignations
Stormy CWC meet on cards Many heads could roll
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Hard introspection The Congress is in for hard introspection on Monday when party’s working committee will discuss reasons behind its decimation Sources said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will offer to resign from their posts Though Congress Working Committee members will immediately reject these offers, the move is expected to make party’s key functionaries, especially the non-performing general secretaries, come forward and own up responsibility

New Delhi, May 17
Reduced to a historic low in the Lok Sabha, the Congress will take one hard look at itself on Monday when party’s working committee will go into reasons behind its decimation and fix accountability.

Sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will offer to resign from their posts after accepting responsibility for the defeat. Though Congress Working Committee members will immediately reject these offers, the move is expected to make party’s key functionaries, especially the non-performing general secretaries, come forward and own up responsibility. So far, only Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan have offered to step down following party’s rout in their states.

Party sources said the meeting will have threadbare discussions on each state to determine causes that restricted Congress below the double-digit mark anywhere. The Congress runs the risk of its leader not being recognised as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. However, a recent amendment to the Salaries and Allowances for Leaders of Opposition Act (which governs the matter) has come to the Congress’ rescue. The Congress now does not require to stick to a rule that an Opposition party must get seats equal to 10% strength of the House (55) to get recognised as the main Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Achary says, “The old 10% rule is no longer valid. As per the new law, the second largest party in the House will be the recognised Opposition.” That apart, leaders are conscious of the fact that their poor numbers – 44 in a 543 member house –will erode their psychological strength as the Opposition. No wonder demands are being raised for heads to roll.

CWC Special Invitee Anil Shastri said: “Ministers like Jairam Ramesh spoke out of turn about the Third Front and damaged our prospects. Tickets were distributed to defectors who returned to parent parties at the last minute leaving us without candidates in some areas. In Noida, I had to vote “None of the Above Option” because there was no Congress candidate. Who is responsible for this?”

Another senior leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi blamed the loss equally on party’s communication failure. AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed agreed, “We failed in communication both at the party and the government level.”

With leaders ready to talk hard, tough questions will be asked of the so-called Rahul’s team and senior general secretaries who failed to deliver in their states. General secretary in charge of communications Ajay Makan, considered close to Rahul, is expected to offer his resignation so is Gurdas Kamat, in charge general secretary Rajasthan and Gujarat, where Congress turned a blank.

Other general secretaries in the line of fire are Mohan Prakash (in charge Maharashtra and MP where the Congress got two seats each). Prakash was in charge of MP even in December 2013 polls when the Congress lost heavily in the Assembly polls. Questions will also be asked of AICC general secretary in charge of election coordination Madhusudan Mistry, who also heads the UP unit where the Congress scored a dismal two, down from 21 seats in 2009.