‘Biggest need is to strengthen organisation’: Kharge at Congress Working Committee meeting

NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the party is not performing up to expectations in many states, and the “biggest need” is to strengthen the organisation.

Taking to X, Kharge shared his opening statement at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting: “In many states, our organisation is not up to expectations. Our biggest need is to strengthen the organisation.”

Kharge further stated that the party had made a strong comeback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but its performance in the recent state elections was “below expectations”, which posed a challenge for the future.

“After the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, the Congress party made a comeback with renewed vigor. The election results in 3 states were not as per our expectations. INDIA parties formed the government in 2 out of 4 states. But our performance was below expectations. This is a challenge for us in terms of the future”, Kharge said on X.

Kharge stressed that Congress must immediately learn from the election results and address its organizational weaknesses and shortcomings. “We need to immediately learn from the election results and correct all our weaknesses and shortcomings at the organizational level. These results are a message for us”, he added.

Notably, in Maharashtra assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback in Maharashtra assembly election. The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, won only 20 seats, while Congress managed 16, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured just 10 seats. The BJP emerged victorious with 132 seats, while its allies — the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar — secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

In Haryana assembly election, Congress faced a similar fate, with the BJP securing a third consecutive term in government after winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly while the only managed to Congress secured 37 seats. In Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections Congress-National Conference secured 48 seats, with the NC winning 42 and the Congress only six seats.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at the AICC headquarters in Delhi was attended by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, and other senior party officials.

After attending the meeting, Delhi Congress Chief Devender Yadav said that Congress will contest all 70 seats in Delhi and there will be no alliance for the upcoming Delhi Assembly election. “We are preparing for the election, we will contest on 70 seats and will win… there is no alliance”, Yadav said.

The assembly election in Delhi is likely to be held in early 2025. (ANI)