Congress suffers split in Tamil Nadu, Rahul Gandhi holds consultations on party's future

New Delhi, Nov 3: On a day Congress suffered a split in Tamil Nadu, Rahul Gandhi today held confabulations with some senior party leaders, including Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy, on the future course in the wake of a string of electoral debacles since the Lok Sabha polls in May.

Gandhi, who is in the midst of an exercise to discuss ways and means to revive the organisation, held lengthy discussions with the leaders who also included Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, AICC General Secretary C P Joshi and former union minister Manish Tewari.

Last week, the Congress Vice President had held lengthy consultations with senior party leaders Sushilkumar Shinde, Amarinder Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Mukul Wasnik, Girija Vyas, Shashi Tharoor and Ajay Maken.

While the Antony Committee, which went into the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, was the first step, the interactive sessions initiated by Gandhi is the second step in the plans to decide the future course and strengthen the organisation.

The talk in the party is that the exercise initiated by Gandhi was akin to "mini Chintan shivirs" to generate fresh ideas for revival of the organisation. The Congress leadership has been talking about holding a 'Chintan shivir' ever since the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls in May which saw the party securing the lowest number of seats, 44, in the 543-member Lower House.

The latest deliberations came on a day when Tamil Nadu Congress suffered a split with senior leader G K Vasan parting ways with the organisation and planning a new outfit. An organisational revamp is long overdue in the Congress.

The process of party polls has also been set in motion with Gandhi asking party leaders to utilise the exercise as an opportunity to revive and revitalise the organisation.

PTI