News Brief
Swarajya Staff
Feb 12, 2020, 01:56 PM | Updated 05:32 PM IST
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Soon after getting routed in the Delhi assembly elections, cracks have emerged in within the Congress party, with many leaders expressing displeasure over statements made by senior members of the party.
It was earlier reported that Congress national spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is the daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, had questioned P Chidambaram for gloating over AAP’s victory in Delhi.
“Has Congress outsourced the task of defeating BJP to state parties? If not, then why are we gloating over AAP victory rather than being concerned about our drubbing?”, tweeted Mukherjee.
Now other Congress leaders like Milind Deora and Pawan Khera have slammed senior party leader P C Chako for blaming the late Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit for the party’s defeat.
PC Chacko, Congress on #DelhiResults2020: The downfall of the Congress party started in 2013 when Sheila ji was the CM. The emergence of a new party AAP took away the entire Congress vote bank. We could never get it back. It still remains with AAP. pic.twitter.com/aIpjSqz6bd
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2020
Chacko was quoted by ANI as saying that the party’s downfall in Delhi started in 2013 when Sheila Dikshit was in power.
This angered a few Congress leaders like Deora said that it was unfortunate for Dikshit to be blamed for the party’s debacle after her death.
Sheila Dikshit ji was a remarkable politician & administrator. During her tenure as Chief Minister, Delhi was transformed & Congress was stronger than ever.
— Milind Deora मिलिà¤à¤¦ दà¥à¤µà¤°à¤¾ (@milinddeora) February 12, 2020
Unfortunate to see her being blamed after her death. She dedicated her life to @INCIndia & the people of Delhi https://t.co/XwQPlHE6cw
Even Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera criticised Chacko by pointing out that the party’s vote share was always respectable during Dikshit’s leadership and only slumped to single digits in her absence.
Just a data point. In 2013, when we lost, @INCIndia vote share in Delhi was 24.55%. Sheila ji was not involved in 2015, when the vote share slipped to 9.7%. In 2019, when she was back in charge, the vote share came up to 22.46%. https://t.co/MvwHouRILh
— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) February 12, 2020
Incidentally, besides sparring with senior leaders, Congress members also expressed disgruntlement with the party’s performance and overall strategy.
Party spokesperson Sanjay Jha tweeted that the party needs a complete reinvention and should get down to taking action rather than introspect.
The first step to renewal is accepting the reality of a serious problem. Living in denial is postponing the inevitable.
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) February 11, 2020
The Congress party needs a complete reinvention, and it needs to look different in 6 months maximum. It cannot be a 5 year project. #DelhiResults
Even Congress supporter Tehseen Poonawalla questioned the party’s strategy of promoting leftist leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani at the expense of its own youngsters and loyalists.
I am blunt . I love the #Congress but
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) February 11, 2020
The @AamAadmiParty backed youngsters like Raghav & Saurabh bhai. Made them stars
BJP backed Bagga bhai made him a star
The #Congress made stars of Kanhiya,Jignesh, that stand up. Why not your loyalists & kids? Why these lefties?
It is now being reported that P C Chacko has now quit has Delhi Congress-in-charge. A few months ago Chacko had also created a controversy when he had praised murder accused separatist leader Yasin Malik for his “courage”.