Tough decisions have to be taken, need to learn from poll results: Kharge at CWC meet

Kharge called on party leaders to work hard and make strategies in a timely manner.

New Delhi: With the party facing setback in state elections within months of Lok Sabha results providing a “new enthusiasm”, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday insisted on improving its way to fight polls and said “tough decisions” are needed to strengthen the faltering organisation.

Kharge minced no words when he told the leaders attending the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that lack of unity, statements against each other and talking “negatively and depressingly” that the party does not have a narrative are harming the organisation “a lot”.

The party chief defended the national narrative of Congress while finding fault with a section of leaders who speak about it “negatively”, harming the interests of the party.

He also had a word for those who found fault with the party’s criticism of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as he emphasised that it has made the electoral process “suspect”, saying “no arithmetic is able to justify” the outcome in Maharashtra “after the kind of results” in Lok Sabha polls.

“After achieving encouraging results in the Lok Sabha elections, we have suffered a setback in the Assembly elections. That is why we will have to take tough decisions...You have to see what your political opponent is doing on a daily basis. We have to take decisions on time. Accountability has to be fixed,” he said.

Admitting that Congress' performance was “below expectations” in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand though I.N.D.I.A. bloc managed to win two of them, he said it is a challenge and they need to “immediately learn from the election results and correct all our weaknesses and shortcomings” at the organisational level. 

“The most important thing that I say again and again is that lack of mutual unity and rhetoric against each other harms us a lot. Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?” he said in apparent reference, especially to the developments in Haryana ahead of elections.

Kharge said the party has the “weapon of disciplining” but it does not want to put “our comrades in any bondage” and they should remember that “our strength lies in the strength of the party.”

On Assembly elections, he said the atmosphere was in Congress’ favour but just the atmosphere being in favour is not a guarantee of victory. He said they will have to learn to convert the atmosphere into results and one should think why they are not able to take advantage of the atmosphere.

“That is why we will have to work hard and make strategies in a timely manner. We will have to strengthen our organisation up to the booth level. We will have to be vigilant, alert and cautious day and night, from making the voter list to counting the votes...In many states, our organisation is not up to expectations. Our biggest need is to strengthen the organisation,” he said.

Amid some leaders criticising the party over its campaign themes, he defended the narrative set at national level and “sometimes we ourselves become our biggest enemy. We will talk negatively and depressingly about ourselves and say that we do not have any narrative, then I ask whose responsibility is it to create the narrative and convey it to the public?”

He said Congress may have lost elections but there is no doubt that unemployment, inflation, and economic inequality are burning issues in this country as also Caste Census is an important issue. At the same time, he said leaders should not ignore local issues and asked, "till when will you fight the state elections with the help of national issues and national leaders?"

Kharge also wanted state units to start election preparations at least one year in advance and one of the main tasks is to check voters list so that "our supporters remain" in the electoral rolls.