Need to strengthen Cong, boost morale of party workers: Ashok Chavan

, May 22: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister

on Thursday admitted that the Congress was facing tough challenges and immediate corrective steps needed to be taken to boost the sagging morale of the workers after the party was decimated in the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to reporters, ahead of the constituency wise review meeting convened by state unit chief Manikrao Thakre at Tilak Bhavan here, Chavan, who was among the only two candidates to get elected to the Lok Sabha from the state, said the results were shocking and have to be micro-analysed.

"The organisation has to be strengthened and morale of the workers needed to be boosted. People oriented decisions need to be expedited," he said. He also said in areas where the leadership was weak and development work was lagging, the Congress had suffered.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also attended the review meeting. Among the constituencies that were taken up for discussion were Nanded and Hingoli,the only two successes in Maharashtra. Other constituencies included Latur, Akola, Jalna,Dhule Nandurbar, Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri and Aurangabad.

NDA routed the Congress and NCP in Maharashtra, winning a massive 42 out of the total 48 parliamentary seats.

PTI