Congress yet to wake up from slumber, even as seniors’ exit continues

Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the debacle in 2014 and 2019 Parliament elections in the country and subsequent defeat in several States, the Congress is yet to wake up from slumber to revive the grand old party and gear up for general elections to be held in 2024. Even as uncertainty continues to prevail on who would be […]

Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the debacle in 2014 and 2019 Parliament elections in the country and subsequent defeat in several States, the Congress is yet to wake up from slumber to revive the grand old party and gear up for general elections to be held in 2024.

Even as uncertainty continues to prevail on who would be heading the party to strengthen it on all fronts for the next elections, prominent leaders continued to quit the party for sidelining them and giving preference to new coterie and inexperienced leaders.

From former Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Ahswani Kumar, MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is now Union Civil Aviation Minister, former Munugode Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy to senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, several leaders quit Congress citing coterie culture as the main reason.

But the Congress high command is unable to grapple with the massive blows it has been suffering after 2014 Parliament elections. The high command should at least start the damage control measures and prevent seniors from quitting the party, say many senior leaders.

Time and again the senior leaders underscored the need of taking concrete measures to strengthen the party. However, nothing concrete has been done. Even after the massive defeat in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections conducted a few months ago, the high command apparently failed to focus on the party’s future.

Though Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi took part in the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, the party won only two seats. Since Congress is struggling to regain its past glory, the internal dissidence in almost all the States has become a bane for the party.

The internal feud is more in Congress-ruled Rajasthan followed by Karnataka and Telangana where it is Opposition. The infighting between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress leader Sachin Pilot continued even after speaking to them after summoning to New Delhi.

The squabbling in Telangana has increased further after the high command appointed A Revanth Reddy as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president.

Several leaders openly criticised the decisions of Revanth Reddy after Rajagopal Reddy resigned as member of the Congress and as a legislator a few weeks ago. Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy flayed Revanth Reddy for inept handling of the party affairs.

Many seniors feel that it’s the high time for the high command to take serious steps to revive the party and boost the morale of the cadre in all States. They said the party still has strong voter support in every polling booth. Out of 10 voters in each polling booth, at least two of them would certainly support the Congress, they say.

High profile exists from Congress so far

· Hardik Patel

· Sunil Jakhar

· RPN Singh

· Kapil Sibal

· Ahswani Kumar

· Jyotiraditya Scindia

· Ghulam Nabi Azad

· Kuldeep Bishnoi

· Anand Sharma

· Raju Parwar

· Naresh Raval

· Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy

· DK Aruna

· Jaiveer Shergill

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