‘There is no need for reshuffle in top leadership’, said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on defeat in 5 states

The Congress has blamed organizational weakness, its inability to deal with the anti-incumbency wave in Punjab and the Trinamool Congress crackdown in Goa for its defeat in the recently concluded five state assembly elections. Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury may have mentioned these points, but he also said that there is no need for any reshuffle in the top leadership of the party as Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are making “all-hearted efforts”. Another party leader and noted lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi called for the need for “restructuring” for expected results in future elections and stressed on organizational elections scheduled later this year. However, he too denied the need for any change in the top leadership.

In a telephonic interview to PTI-Bhasha, Choudhary said, “There is organizational weakness in our party and that is why we have lost. Our defeat in Punjab is the result of our own mistakes. We failed to deal with the anti-incumbency wave in Punjab.” He blamed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress for the party’s defeat in Goa. “We could have won the elections in Goa, but we lost there only because of the damage caused by the Trinamool,” he claimed. They (Trinamool) acted like an agent of BJP there and at their (BJP’s) behest, they did the work of dividing votes. That is why we have lost in Goa also.

There is doubt that the BJP has actually performed well in the elections, Choudhary admitted. However, he did not express the need for any change in the Congress leadership and said, “After all, who will be the next leader? If the removal of Rahul and Priyanka means a change of leadership, who will be in their place? Both are trying wholeheartedly and there is no doubt about it.

Terming the party’s defeat in five states as “very, very disappointing”, Singhvi said, “We have accepted defeat in Punjab but the defeat of Goa and Uttarakhand is really a shocker.” The lawyer said, “The matter revolves around the leadership. He never got scared of facing bullets, he never ran away. They are ready to accept everything. We need restructuring from the lower level of the party.

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