Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, May 19: Entering into introspection mode, Congress party will be holding series of parleys in the next few days to assess the reasons behind the drubbings in the recently concluded Parliamentary polls.
Confirming to EXCELSIOR, Pradesh Congress (JKPCC) chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz said, “the party will be holding a brainstorming session with all its Cabinet Ministers on May 24 and analyse the reasons for this humiliating defeat”.
“Subsequently, the party will hold meeting of its Executive Committee to assess the reasons for the bruising defeat during the Lok Sabha polls. The party will assess the performance of all its Ministers and MLAs and ponder over the reasons for the debacle”, said Mr Soz.
Congress party has suffered major debacle during the poll, with its candidates loosing on all the three Parliamentary seats – Jammu-Poonch, Udhampur-Doda and Ladakh. “What was more shocking for the party, was the fact that in most of the Assembly constituencies represented by its Ministers, the party had failed to get lead from the rival candidates”, sources asserted.
The Congress party had fared badly in the Assembly segments held by prominent Congress Minister including Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand (Chhamb), PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma (Akhnoor), Housing Minister Raman Bhalla (Gandhi Nagar), Urban Development Minister Rigzin Jora (Leh) and Cooperative Minister, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar).
Out of 37 Assembly segments in Jammu region, which comprised two Lok Sabha seats of Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seats, the Congress could gain leads only in 11 segments (eight in Udhampur and three in Jammu seats), while BJP was ahead in 24 segments (15 in Jammu seat and nine in Udhampur seat).
BJP had wrested the Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary seat from Congress MP, Madan Lal Sharma with a massive margin of 2,57,280 votes while Dr Jitendera Singh defeated former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad by over 60,000 votes.
Meanwhile, confessing that the verdict was expressly against the Congress party, senior Congress leader and former Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “the party needs to introspect and analyse the reasons for losing the confidence of the people”.
Describing the recent outcome of elections as a setback for the Congress party, Mr Azad said, “instead of being cynical and despondent, we need to review our performance and identify the cause behind the poll debacle. The verdict of people in a democratic exercise is supreme and that it has to be accorded all respect and deference”.
“Our party is robust and resilient to brave such shocks. We have bounced back with greater resilience and strength after every upheaval that our party has witnessed and I am sure we will reinvent ourselves this time as well”, Mr Azad said adding, “we need to chart our strategies for revival and rejuvenation of the party”.
In a veiled attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, “it appears that divisive and sectarian forces have succeeded in creating a wedge in the society for small-time electoral gains. However, this aberration has to give way to pluralistic ethos and composite culture, which our state and country is famous for all over globe”.
“The progressive and pluralistic forces have to regain the democratic space for maintenance of peace and harmony in the State and put back on the agenda the high values of development, pluralism and inclusiveness”, he added.
Expressing gratitude to thousands of party workers and leaders, especially from the hilly areas, who worked tirelessly for days and night to reach to the people, Mr Azad exhorted them to resume their activities forthwith with renewed vigour and enthusiasm to regain the lost trust of people.
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