Congress' Rajya Sabha MP says party needs cardiac surgery

Congress' rout in the four state assembly elections has led to senior leaders voicing their concerns over the state of affairs in the party. Just days after All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijaya Singh called for "major surgery" in the party, another senior leader has come out in the open demanding stern action.

Rajya Sabha MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi sparked a row on Monday by taking a dig at the party high command over the crushing defeat in the recent elections. He said that the party does not need cosmetic surgery but cardiac surgery to revamp its organisation and deliver wins.

Digvijaya's remarks led to the party rapping him for his comments. He later clarified that Congress president Sonia Gandhi remained his leader number one and Rahul Gandhi leader number two but the party needs to take some corrective action.

The Congress lost in Assam after ruling the state for 15 years. Assam, for the first time in its history, will have a Bharatiya Janata Party led government.

Its alliance with the Left Front failed to make any difference in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress retained to power with a brute majority.

Kerala was no better where the Congress-led United Democratic Front was ousted by the Left Democratic Front while in Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa powered AIADMK to power for the second straight term decimating the DMK-Congress alliance.