CWC adopts Antony report
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — The Congress has concluded that weaknesses in its organisational structure had contributed immensely to the party’s debacle in the last Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress Working Committee, which met yesterday to discuss the Antony Committee report, while putting its stamp of approval on the recommendations also accepted the fact that there was an urgent need to revamp the organisation with basic stress on toning up the party structure at various levels. The Antony Committee has made various recommendations in its report to improve the party’s image.

Briefing mediapersons about the outcome of the Congress Working Committee which considered at length the Antony Committee recommendations yesterday, senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee today said that Congress leaders felt that no single reason, including pulling down the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, contributed to the party’s reverses in the last elections.

The report was considered at length by the CWC in two sessions, which concluded last night.

A major recommendation of the committee and accepted by the CWC was the announcement of party candidates one month in advance for the Assembly constituencies and three months ahead in the case of Lok Sabha. The move was aimed at putting an end to the practice of last-minute decisions in selection of candidates and the resultant confusion among the ranks, Mr Mukherjee said. The party in the past had been deciding most of the candidates on the last day of the nominations.

Mr Mukherjee, however, accepted that there could be difficulty in announcing candidates for the parliamentary elections three months in advance due to various factors involved. But he said an effort would be made on this front.

On the controversial issue of the party’s stand on coalitions, both the committee and the CWC stuck to the Pachmarhi Declaration that the Congress would enter into coalitions only as a last resort, and that too based on a common minimum programme. The Declaration had also made it clear that the party would strive to retain its primacy at the national level.

The Antony Committee made another major recommendation that of replacing District Congress Committees and the Block Congress Committees with Lok Sabha and Assembly constituency committees, respectively.

This recommendation was, however, kept in abeyance since its implementation needed amendment of the party’s constitution and approval by the plenary session.

Pointing out that all other recommendations of the Antony Committee had been accepted, Mr Pranab Mukherjee said this particular point had not been cleared not because there was no merit in it, but due to technical problems.

As part of the democratisation process from the grassroots level, it had been decided that the practice of secret ballot by active members would be intruduced right from the election of a booth and village and block committees. The committee had stressed that this was required at all echelons of the election process, from the bottom to the top.

The Disciplinary Action Committee should give its decisions within a month of conclusion of elections to ensure timely action against those who indulged in sabotaging the party’s prospects from within the ranks.

The Working Committee decided that no leader who entered the party, particularly during the election eve, should be entitled for party ticket. This principle would be implemented as a general norm.

The party also decided to enrol the intelligentia and make space for them in decision making organs of the party. Election results have reconfirmed the growing alienation of the party from the educated urban middle class. The Congress President should have a direct access to the intelligentia, the Antony Committee has recommended.

In a move to create the party’s own Dalit votebank rather than banking on other parties, the party has decided to lay emphasis on building its own Dalit leadership wherever possible. It would make a special effort to reach out to well-educated and professionally upwardly mobile young Scheduled Castes and OBC persons who could be nurtured to positions of importance in the party.

The party has accorded high priority to retrieving the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe seats and their votes. The Congress used to have an independent Dalit votebank till the eighties when it lost the same to other political outfits like the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh.

It was also decided that Other Backward Class voters should be brought back to the Congress fold by giving them adequate representation both in the organisation and elective bodies. Another important requirement identified by the party was to reach out to the Muslims, especially the women.

The Antony Committee has emphasised on the need for dedicated-full-time party workers to combat cadre-based communal organisations. It has expressed concern over the Army of activists the RSS and the BJP has built over the decades and the variety of educational, cultural and sports activities through which they have been spreading their tentacles.

Mr Mukherjee declined to comment on the CPI stand that its decision to back the Congress had cost it dear in the recent Lok Sabha elections.” Every party is entitled to its view”, Mr Mukherjee said parrying the question.