A commission to probe the reasons for the massive defeat; the schedule for holding organisational elections; a plea to bring Priyanka Gandhi to the top leadership; and resignation offers from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi apart from some general secretaries are among the agenda for the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), scheduled for Monday.
The party is likely to cite collective failure on the part of the Government and the party for the defeat. In 1999 too, the party had appointed AK Antony to find out the reasons for the defeat.
The report of the Antony committee, however, gathered dust in the AICC headquarters and the party failed to implement its suggestions such as timely organisational polls and a more cohesive approach of the leadership.
Several general secretaries, however, feel that such an exercise will be futile this time as the reasons for the defeat are apparent.
“Price rise, rather than corruption, is the main reason for the defeat. The deregulation of the oil price regime was not accepted by the voters. We had to pay the price for limiting LPG cylinders and subsidies,” said a senior Cabinet Minister. He added that no election was held at various levels of the organisation since 1999. “In several states, there was no organisation to spread the good decisions of the Government,” he added.
Senior leaders like Kamal Nath and PC Chacko have already said the silence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a key reason for the political backlash.
He should have been more vocal during UPA II, said Nath. However, it is learnt that the top family will resist attempts to isolate and attack the PM in the meeting.
Some of the general secretaries are learnt to have decided to put in their papers. However, they are unlikely to be accepted.
Sonia and Rahul’s offer to resign — they have already taken responsibility for the defeat — are likely to be unanimously rejected by the CWC.