Daijiworld Media Network – Mysore (SP)

Mysore, Apr 12: Oscar Fernandes, veteran Congress leader, felt that a change in the leadership in the state is inevitable in the light of the reverses the party has faced in the elections of late. He said that the party workers themselves will usher in this change, as the internal elections of the party will be held shortly.

When questioned by the media men during the visit of the former union minister to the city for inaugurating a newly built church in Dornalli village near K R Nagar, he expressed the optimism that the party workers will elect the right candidates in the organizational elections to the taluk and district level committees. As far as the party’s poor performance in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike election is concerned, he said, all the leaders of the party in the state including himself need to shoulder the responsibility for this defeat.

“I feell the party needs to be built from the grassroots level again. There is every reason to believe that a change in the state leadership will be effected. The state leadership has not been efficient, if we look at the losses we have suffered of late,” he remarked.

Party leader and MP, H Vishwanath, who was with Oscar at the time, felt that the party workers feel humiliated and their morale has received a beating after the BBMP debacle. “We had been offered a golden opportunity because of the total failure of the ruling party in all the sectors and its failure to even utilize the central grants. We suffered because of the internal squabble of leaders who regard their egos more important than the image of the party. The leaders failed to encash this opporunity,” he fumed. He blamed the party leadership in the state for failing to spread awareness among the people about the UPA government’s welfare schemes for them. Vishwanath reiterated that he would hand over a detailed report on the reasons for the party’s poor performance in the state, to party’s national president, Sonia Gandhi and that he will request the high command to overhaul the organizational set up in the state.