Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take “corrective steps” on the basis of deliberations in the marathon meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee held here on Monday.
According to informed sources in the Congress, “some changes” in the AICC are expected in the coming days. But a Cabinet reshuffle continues to be a guessing game.
“If they (the Prime Minister and the Congress president) have taken the deliberations in the CWC meeting seriously, then the exercise of Cabinet and AICC reshuffles could be undertaken without delay. Else, some cosmetic changes would be made,” the Congress insiders said.
They further said the PM may not like to reshuffle his Cabinet as he is happy with the current team. But then, it all depends on the high command.
Majority of the over 40 leaders who spoke in the CWC meeting were critical of the performance of the government at the Centre. In fact, they have put some ministries in the dock for the overall inflation. But Mrs Gandhi’s opening remarks and defence of the Prime Minister made the attack blunt, observed some CWC members.
The speeches also showed the widening gap between the party and the government, especially when members attacked the party ministers at the Centre for being detached from the organisation.
Groupism and mindset of ministers has never been new to the Congress workers despite Mrs Gandhi’s directive to be accessible to at least the party workers.
If the Congress organisation continued to be ignored in the UPA-2, talk of “coalition compulsions” has also made the anti-communal line blunt.
A member who attended the CWC meeting was surprised that there was no serious discussion on the current political situation in the country. A speaker was learnt to have said: “UPA-1 was good, UPA-2 is better and UPA-3 will be determined,” saying that the Congress-led coalition will come to power for a third time successively in 2014.
Congress organisation in major states like UP, Bihar, AP, Maharashtra, TN, Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh continues to be weak.
On the other hand, Congress Union ministers have not proved to be vote-catchers even in their own states. They are either confined to their constituency or the region they belong to.