Congress to introspect about its functioning

Thiruvananthapuram: As part of a nationwide introspection exercise by the Congress party, a similar exercise would be held in two phases in Kerala, the party said here Friday.

Mukul Wasnik, Congress general secretary in charge of the party affairs in Kerala, and his deputy Deepak Baberia would arrive in the state next week on the first leg of their visit when they, along with state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran, will cover Kerala's northern districts.

"In the first phase, these leaders will start from Kasargode (district) on Monday and spend a day each in each of the seven northern districts, discussing with and hearing the grassroot leaders on how to go about building the party. On 25th, the team returns from Thrissur," a party release said.

The central team begins the second phase of visit from Ernakulam Feb 12 and will reach the capital city on Feb 18. On the following two days, the team will interact with legislators and parliament members.

Though the party was routed during parliamentary elections and reduced to just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, Kerala held on and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 12 of the 20 parliamentary seats from the state. Of these, the Congress won for eight.