After the Indian National Congress suffered another electoral defeat in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, there is growing apprehension within the senior party leadership with regards to the future course of action.
On Wednesday (November 18) Chidambaram, one of the senior leaders in Congress party joined the ranks of functionaries critical of the party’s performance with an indirect reference to Rahul Gandhi lack of leadership and presence in the party.
Chidambaram said, “I’m more worried about the bypoll results in Gujarat, MP, UP and Karnataka. These results show that the party either has no organisational presence on the ground or has been weakened considerably,”.
In his comments, Chidambaram said: “In Bihar, RJD-Congress had a chance of winning. Why we lost despite being so close to victory is something that needs comprehensive review. Remember, not long ago Congress had won Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.”
The remark coming from Chidambaram carries a lot of weight as he is one of the senior insiders within the party. Also, there is ramblings and echoes of dissident after the controversy over the letter that was written in August, that led to the resignation of Rahul Gandhi from the position of party president.
However, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and senior Congressmen Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “If some leaders think Congress is not the right party for them, then they may set up a new party or can join any other party that they think is progressive and according to their interest. But they should not indulge in such embarrassing activities since it can erode the credibility of Congress.”
The interim president of Congress, Sonia Gandhi who many say will have the final word over who will become the next president AICC has the tough task to not only quell the growing dissident in the central leadership but also faces tough questions from state functanaries who are suffering from lack of strong leadership.
Chidambaram called for the need to work on the organisational strength on the ground and said shared the views expressed by some RJD members that Congress contested more seats than its capacity in Bihar.
It must also be noted that the Congress party performance was abysmal in the recently concluded bypoll elections in many states, particularly in Madhya Pradesh.