Cong most credible of national opposition parties; worth reforming, reviving: Tharoor

PTI, Mar 13, 2022, 6:11 PM IST

New Delhi: As Congress’ top brass met to deliberate on its recent electoral debacle, its leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday pointed to the party having the largest number of MLAs in the country in the Opposition camp and asserted that it was ”worth reforming and reviving”.

Taking to Twitter, Tharoor shared a list of the number of MLAs that respective parties in the county have nationwide. According to the list shared by him, Congress has over 750 MLAs, the most after the BJP which has over 1,400 legislators.

It was not clear when this list was compiled as the Samajwadi Party, which won 111 seats in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, did not figure, though it did have some parties with less than 100 legislators.

”This is why Congress remains by far the most credible of the national opposition parties. It’s also why it’s worth reforming & reviving,” he said sharing the list.

The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP, could not wrest Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur from the BJP, and gave its worst performance in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress Working Committee met on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states as the opposition party reels from the latest electoral debacle.

After the crushing defeat in the assembly polls, party MP Shashi Tharoor had on Thursday said it is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and reform the party’s organizational leadership in a manner that will reignite those ideas and inspire the people.

Tharoor, who was among the Group of 23 leaders, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an organizational overhaul, also said ”change is unavoidable” for the party to succeed.