New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has made a pitch for a ‘major surgery’ in the organisation in the wake of the disappointing results in the Assembly polls in four states including loss of power in Assam and Kerala.
"Results disappointing but not unexpected. We have done enough Introspection shouldnt we go for a Major Surgery?" Singh, who is AICC general secretary, said.
Digvijays suggestion has come at a time when there is talk of the much delayed reshuffle in the AICC secretariat likely to be carried out soon and indications are that Rahul Gandhi could be elevated as party chief.
Senior party leader Shashi Tharoor too expressed disappointment over his party's dismal performance. He said that the Congress needs to ‘move beyond this clichéd introspection business into some serious action’.
He also defended party's central leadership, saying Gandhis cannot be held accountable for the Congress debacle which saw it voted out in Assam and Kerala.
“All state elections are not a referendum on national leadership, there are local issues involved," he said.
Congress lost seats and vote share in both Assam and Kerala, the two states it was in power, while its vote share and seats increased in West Bengal and Puducherry compared to the 2011 results. In Tamil Nadu, it won more seats but got less votes.
In Assam, Congress vote share came down from 39.39 percent in 2011 to 31 percent in this year's election. The party won 26 seats compared to 78 it had won in 2011.
In Kerala, Congress won 22 seats and got vote share of 23.7 percent, while it had won 38 seats in 2011 with vote share of 26.40 percent.
In West Bengal, Congress got 12.3 percent votes and won 44 seats compared to 42 seats in 2011 with vote share of 9.09 percent.
In Tamil Nadu, Congress won eight seats with 6.4 percent vote share compared to five seats it had won in 2011 with 9.30 percent votes.
In Puducherry, Congress won 15 seats with 30.6 percent votes compared to seven seats it won in 2011 with 26.53 percent votes. It is now poised to form government in the state in alliance with DMK.
