NEW DELHI: Congress party heavyweights, Sharad Pawar and Arjun Singh mounted pressure in the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body for reorganization of the party setup, in preparation for the next round of Assembly elections. While the Prime Minister succeeded in getting the full endorsement of the CWC in its second consecutive meeting on Dec.2, the party heavyweights served notice that there was no escaping a full-scale effort to revitalize the party machinery from the central to the state units. The immediate target of several of the CWC members including Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar was the Uttar Pradesh committee for its dismal showing in the recent elections. It was pointed out that the party was in shambles down to the block level in the State, and the Congress leadership could ill afford such a situation till the parliamentary elections. Interestingly Rajesh Pilot said that if the selection of candidates had been proper, the Congress would have secured a comfortable majority in Rajasthan. Pilot has himself been accused of promoting his wife Rama Pilot’s case who lost. The CWC, decided to appoint two committees to analyze the election results and suggest remedial measures. While one committee will deal exclusively with Uttar Pradesh, the other committee will deal with the other four States including Delhi. The committee members will be decided by Rao in the next two or three days. The CWC, at the outset patted the Prime Minister on his back declaring that his “handling of volatile issues” had helped the party in the elections.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 10, 1993
