Perform or perish, Rahul tells PCC chiefs

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday cracked the whip on Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and legislative party leaders suggesting them to perform, saying there will now be a system of “reward and punishment” in the party.

This came at a day-long-meeting held by Gandhi with the PCC chiefs and CLP leaders here. The meeting will continue on Saturday.  “Those doing well in the party should be rewarded. Accountability should also be fixed for failures. There will be a system of performance-based evaluation now,” a state leader, who attended the meeting, quoted the party vice president as saying.

Karnataka Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah invited Gandhi to visit the State, saying it will help strengthen the party in the upcoming polls.

He said Congress prospects were now good in the State. Gandhi was also of the view that leaders heading the party in the states could be asked to give a road map of what they wanted to do in the next three-four months and an evaluation of their performance could be done on the basis of what they proposed and what they did, he said.

“You set three-four commitments for yourselves and I will see after some time whether you have fulfilled them or not,” the party leader quoted Gandhi as telling to the PCC chiefs and CLP leaders. During his recent meetings with AICC office bearers, many general secretaries had suggested Gandhi to give more responsibility to the PCC chiefs and make them accountable for their failure. 

The Congress vice president said some definite criteria will be fixed to decide eligibility of a candidate in order to ensure that party tickets are given only to those who deserved them.