Former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has entered the ranks of senior Congress leaders condemning the party’s performances in the recent Bihar assembly elections and by-polls in several states.
Chidambaram criticized Congress’s low organizational strength and said that a comprehensive review is required to reflect on the loss on falling short of Bihar’s victory margin.
“I’m more worried about the bypoll results in Gujarat, MP, UP, and Karnataka. These results show that the party has no organizational presence on the ground or has been weakened considerably. In Bihar, RJD-Congress had a chance of winning. Why we lost despite being so close to victory is something that needs a comprehensive review. Remember, not long ago Congress had won Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand,” the Rajya Sabha MP was quoted by the Times of India.
Previously, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had criticized the top-brass and stated that the people no longer view the party as a compelling alternative in the political spectrum. On August, 23 senior leaders of the party had penned a note to Sonia Gandhi and demanded making changes in the party’s functioning.
However, Sibal accused the top-leadership of turning their back on the dissidents as he said, “Some of us put our pen to paper and said what should be done in the Congress on the road ahead. Instead of listening to us, they turned their back on us. The results are for all to see. If for six years the Congress has not introspected, what hope do we have for introspection now?”
A committee was set up to examine the dissident leaders’ resentments, but Mr. Sibal, in his remarks on Monday, suggested little improvement had been made on fixing issues.
“Since there has been no dialogue and there seems to be no effort for a dialogue by the leadership and since there is no forum to express my views, I am constrained to express them publicly,” Mr. Sibal told the Indian Express on Monday