Defence Minister A K Antony will head a seven-member high-level group constituted by Congress chief Sonia to give suggestions to revive the party against the backdrop of series of debacles including in Karnataka and Gujarat Assembly elections.
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, Union Ministers P R Dasmunsi, Mani Shanker Aiyar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik and Urmila Singh are the other members of the group.
The group has been asked to submit its suggestions to the Congress president in 15 days. The Congress Working Committee on May 31 decided to set up a committee to suggest ways in which the party could be strengthened.
The meeting, which took place exactly a week after the party's debacle in Karnataka, saw the CWC asserting that the party has the "capacity to draw correct lessons from temporary electoral defeats and re-energise itself to meet emerging challenges."
Assembly elections in a series of states are scheduled this year followed by that of the Lok Sabha early next year.
With the Congress losing elections in as many as 13 states since it came to power in the Centre in May 2004, the CWC had urged all partymen to work as a "unified, cohesive and motivated team so that we are successful in the campaigns that lie ahead."
