Cong review of poll debacle to begin tomorrow

New Delhi, June 20: Having suffered its worst-ever poll debacle,

will begin its review exercise tomorrow when a panel headed by A K Antony is set to meet party leaders from Delhi unit to pinpoint the reasons for defeat.

All the seven candidates of Congress, who lost in the Lok Sabha polls including Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken, J P Agrawal, Sandip Dikshit have been called for the feedback. Antony and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik will be taking stock of the reasons for the 7-0 defeat of the party in the national capital.

Party sources said Antony will also be meeting PCC chiefs, CLP leaders and other party functionaries from various states in the days to come to find out what went wrong with the party in the Lok Sabha polls.

The exercise is being undertaken at the behest of Congress President Sonia Gandhi who has been assigned by the party's apex decision-making body Congress Working Committee to effect the necessary changes in the organizational set up. Antony will prepare a report which may be finalised before the budget session of parliament.

The party is reported to be contemplating changing Chief Ministers in Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana besides replacing PCC chiefs in around ten states including that of Maharasthra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. Congress has got its lowest tally of 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha in elections held in April-May this year.

PTI