Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Ghulam Nabi Azad has said it would be difficult for the party to come to power either at the Centre or in the states unless party leaders worked with the masses to restructure the damaged base of the party.
Our (Congress) misfortune is that the Congress cannot play the role of opposition and those who are at present in power cannot run the government, he told a party workers meeting near here on Sunday. He said infighting and factionalism at various levels in the party was responsible for the Congress losing elections in different parts of the countryr.
The Congress did not lose because there was anything wrong in its policies or programmes, but because some party leaders were caught in infighting and had lost rapport with the workers and the people.
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But, even the leaders of the United Front constituents agree that they were unable to run the government at the Centre, he claimed. Azad claimed that the UF government lacked the trust of the people or of the foreign countries. Many foreign countries are saying that they are helping the government is being helped by them only because it had Congress support. because the Congress is supporting it.
Azad said Congress support to the United Front government will continue so long as it correctly addressed the problems of the nation - be it on economic, security or foreign fronts or redressing the peoples grievances.
Once the UF fails on these fronts, we will oppose it both within and outside the Parliament, the Congress leader said.
Referring to Congress support to the National Conference government in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was limited only to fighting Pak-sponsered militancy in the state, adding that the Congress would always take up problems faced by the people in different regions of the border state.
Charging Pakistan of waging a proxy war in the state and causing destruction to property and lives during the last eight years, Azad said it was under these circumstances that the Congress decided to extend support to Farooq Abdullah government to fight militancy and restore normalcy in the state.