Senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran, on Saturday, warned the party of a possible repeat of the poll debacle it faced in the Assembly elections to the four States, if it did not make course correction on its economic agenda and put an end to the excess of divisive group politics followed by State-level leaders.
Addressing a gathering of party activists at Indira Bhavan on the occasion of the 129th anniversary of the Indian National Congress, he said it was time the party reinvented itself by making a self-assessment of the economic reforms initiated in 1991 to find who the real beneficiaries of the reforms were and putting an end to “self-destructive groupism.”
The party should have a re-look on the reforms initiated in 1991 as it had alienated large sections of people, particularly due to rise in prices of essential commodities, which was an offshoot of government decision to give autonomy for companies to fix oil price, he said.
Oil pricing
“The government should not toe the line of oil companies in its pricing policy. In fact, it is high time the accounts of oil companies were audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General,” he said.
Taking exception to the statement of C Rangarajan, Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, that more needed to be done to remove government subsidies, the Congress leader said “people like Rangarajan and Montek Singh Ahluwalia should consider the welfare of people.”
Mr. Sudheeran said the economic policy followed by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had relevance even today and it was the strong decision taken by Ms. Gandhi to nationalise the banking sector that insulated Indian economy from the recent global meltdown.
The reforms initiated by Mr. Nehru and Ms. Gandhi attracted people towards the party, he added. Infighting within the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh units of the party hampered its chances, the Congress leader said, adding that it was time the party leaders and activists in the State took a cue from the poll results and stopped fighting.
Mr. Sudheeran went on to add that the Congress had the wherewithal to emerge from poll debacles as it happened in 1980 when Ms. Gandhi rose to power after the setback she received in the 1977 elections at the hands of the Janata Party.
