Mumbai : The Congress party celebrated its 130th Foundation Day on Sunday. On the occasion state party president Manikrao Thakre unfurled the party flag at Tilak Bhavan in Dadar. But, only a few of the other prominent party leaders were present on the occasion.
Party’s disastrous electoral performance in 2014 prevented it from celebrating this big day with a bang. Over and above that senior leaders like former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, newly appointed Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, party’s campaign chief during the assembly elections, Narayan Rane, were all missing during the ceremony. Only a couple of former ministers were present at the ceremony.
It could not be confirmed whether they attended any such similar function elsewhere.
Former union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Mumbai regional Congress chief Kripashankar Singh, chief of state Congress Seva Dal Chandrakant Daima, former ministers Naseem Khan and Dr. Nitin Raut, state general secretary Yashwant Happe, Rajesh Sharma and many more party office bearers attended the ceremony at Tilak Bhavan.
The party workers took oath of national integration on the occasion. Thakre and Shinde addressed the gathering. The senior Congressmen expressed their hope of revival of the party. They said that they believe that party has the capacity to bounce back to power. But, with the absence of key leaders at the function, the common workers appeared puzzled as to how the party would revive.
“The party is failing to gear itself up to play the new responsibility people have entrusted them with,” a senior party leader and ex-minister told FPJ. A younger worker was more forthright. “It appears as if, anybody who still holds hopes to get something out of the party attended today’s function. Those who have got something or the other were absent,” she said bitterly.
The Indian National Congress was founded on this day in 1885. The first session of the party was held at Mumbai between December 28 and December 31, and was attended by 72 members.
Last year, the Congress’s Foundation Day celebration coincided with the swearing-in ceremony of then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Congress had lost in Delhi after 15 years.
In Maharashtra, the party has slipped to the third position after BJP and Shiv Sena. It could secure only 42 seats in the state assembly elections a couple of months back. Earlier in the year, the party’s tally during the Lok Sabha polls was only two.
Serious deliberations are expected to have started in the party about its ideological pull, connect with masses and form of organisation as the party enters its 131st year. The party has ruled the state for most part of over 50 years of its existence and has never appeared so weak in the past, senior party workers say.
