Congress dissenters’ letter outlines 11-point agenda for internal reforms

NEW DELHI: : Uncertainty over leadership has weakened the Congress and demoralised its workers, the controversial letter written by 23 leaders to party president Sonia Gandhi on August 7 said, warning the high command of erosion in its support base with the desertion of functionaries across states.

The letter, snatches of which were first reported on Sunday, outlined an 11-point agenda to usher in reforms in the 134-yearold organisation, called for an introspection of the reasons behind the party’s “steady decline”, and appealed to the Congress to take the initiative for the formation of a “national coalition of democratic and secular forces” against the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Even after 14 months of the 2019 electoral verdict, the Congress Party has not undertaken any honest introspection to analyse the reasons for its continued decline,” said the letter, whose full text was published by NDTV on its website on Thursday evening.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, was not guiding the organisation effectively in building public opinion against the BJP, according to the letter. The “institutional process of merit-based and consensusbacked” selection had been disrupted, it added.

The letter, considered critical of the high command, sparked a heated discussion at a CWC meeting on Monday with Congress leaders mounting an offensive on the signatories. Just four of the 23 signatories — Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik and Jitin Prasada — are part of the 52-member CWC.

After a seven-hour, high-decibel debate at the CWC meeting, the party authorised Sonia Gandhi to effect any necessary organisation changes, and reaffirmed its faith in her and her son Rahul Gandhi.