Poor coordination led to LS poll drubbing, aver Congress leaders

Hyderabad: PJ Kurien Committee is likely to submit a report on the poor performance of the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Telangana to the party high command on July 21. Contested candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress MLAs and district party unit leaders explained to the Committee that party leadership was overconfident in some segments and poor coordination could be one of the main reasons for losing elections in some MP seats, although the Congress was strong enough.

The three-member Committee concluded its meeting with the party leaders on Friday. The Committee recorded the statements of the leaders and MLAs on the party’s failure in performing well in the elections. On the first day of the meeting on Thursday, the contested candidates told the Committee that the BRS played spoilsport to Congress by shifting its vote bank to the BJP in some MP seats.

On the second day, the Congress leaders complained against some senior leaders for their failure in coordinating with the district and mandal level leaders to mobilise voter support during the election time. In some cases, the leaders were overconfident and neglected the opposition.

The Committee will be submitting the report to AICC on July 21 in New Delhi, Committee member Rakibul Hussain said. During its two-day trip, the Committee held one-on-one meetings with different leaders at the Gandhi Bhavan. The Congress high command had expected to win 12 to 14 MP seats in the State but could manage to win only eight MP seats. Accordingly, this Committee was constituted to ascertain the reasons behind the poor performance.

Hyderabad Congress leader Feroz Khan alleged that the Congress joined hands with AIMIM and it affected badly in the Lok Sabha elections.