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The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has started its meeting to evaluate the election results, where the party faced setback in the four States that went to polls. The meeting will also take a final decision on the schedule to elect the next Congress president.
The ongoing meeting also heard the party's Chief Ministers on the Covid situation. The meeting will also hear the party general secretaries -- Jitender Singh for Assam, Tariq Anwar for Kerala, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Dinesh Gundurao and West Bengal in-charge Jitin Prasada on the electoral outcome. "I expect them to brief us very frankly on our performance in their respective states. We want them to tell us why we performed well below expectation. These results tell us clearly that we need to put our house in order," Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in her initial remarks.
She said the Congress has to take note of the serious setbacks. "To say that we are deeply disappointed is to make an understatement. I intend to set up a small group to look at every aspect that caused such reverses and report back very quickly. We need to candidly understand why in Kerala and Assam we failed to dislodge the incumbent governments, and why in West Bengal we drew a complete blank. These will yield uncomfortable lessons, but if we do not face up to the reality, if we do not look the facts in the face, we will not draw the right lessons," she said.
On Covid Management
She said the Narendra Modi Government wilfully ignored scientific advice and the country is paying a horrendous price for neglecting the pandemic and wilful patronage of super-spreader events that were allowed for partisan gains. "The public health system across the country has all but collapsed. Vaccination coverage is woefully short of need and not expanding at the rate at which it must. The Modi government has abdicated its responsibility. It has obliged the states to bear the cost of vaccinating the hundreds of millions in the 18 to 45 age group. Every expert has said that it would have made more sense and it would have been financially more equitable for the Centre to bear the costs. But we know the Modi government has other priorities, pursuing grandiose projects against the force of public opinion and the face of widespread criticism. It is also a shame that the Central government continues to discriminate against Opposition-ruled states," she charged.
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