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The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting in Parliament precincts on Saturday, the first after the party’s disastrous performance in the polls, was a perfunctory and low-key affair compared to the one after the 2009 elections.
After senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge proposed her name and veteran Mohsina Kidwai seconded it, Sonia Gandhi was re-elected CPP head for a fifth term. In her address, Gandhi acknowledged there was “widespread anger against us, which we failed to adequately gauge…we have to individually and collectively draw the appropriate lessons from this unprecedented setback”.
At the meeting, the CPP passed a resolution appealing to “progressive and secular forces” to present a “united opposition”. It assured Congress support to such political parties in this regard.
Sonia Gandhi told party members their inputs, experience and assessment of the party’s strengths and weaknesses, “rather than public acrimony”, would be critical to drawing the right lessons to put the party back on track. The Congress chief’s comments come in the wake of several party members speaking out against ‘team Rahul Gandhi’, as well a severe blame game within party circles over the party’s defeat. At Saturday’s meeting, Rahul Gandhi, who led the party into this year’s polls, was seated on one of the back benches. Sonia Gandhi said, “The Congress came second, with 106.9 million votes versus the BJP’s 171.6 million.”
Thanking these voters for putting faith in the Congress, she urged her party members to “work hard to recapture the larger support base the Congress traditionally enjoyed”.
She also criticised the BJP for being an irresponsible Opposition, reiterating the Congress would play a constructive role as the Opposition. She recalled the BJP had propounded the “infamous” theory that “obstructing Parliament is a legitimate parliamentary device…In fact, the opposition to some Bills was not based on any principle and argument, but simply on cussedness and outright political opportunism. Being in the Opposition means more regular attendance, more hours inside the House and more study of subjects. It means asking more questions, raising more issues.”
In its resolution, the CPP acknowledged Manmohan Singh’s “wise, sober and dignified leadership” during his term as prime minister.
