List MPs, ex-MPs since 2004 still with party, Congress state units told

NEW DELHI: Waking to the damage to the party due to a steady stream of desertions since 2014 and more so in recent months, Congress has asked its state units to provide details about MPs who represented the party in the last three LS and who were in RS from 2004 and have still not left the fold.
The concern over tracking the current status of leaders, some of whom might no longer be MPs, appears to signal that Congress has lost count of its popular leaders in the aftermath of six years of continuous exodus triggered due to poaching by BJP and other rival regional parties.
In an urgent and unprecedented communique, Congress has asked its state units to provide details of the MPs. Finding names of those elected to the LS in 2004, 2009 and 2014 and those who were sent to RS would have been an easy task for the Delhi brass but for the fact that many have left Congress for greener pastures. There is no count of how many such leaders have bolted in recent years, and just where they are currently perched.
The urgency of the matter can be gauged from the fact that K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation, mentioned the issue alongside the three-point official agenda — 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, training programme for Congress workers and membership drive — at the meeting held by Congress president Sonia Gandhi with state units and AICC managers on Thursday.
The stock-taking of leaders in the party stable could be the starting point to shortlist candidates for appointments in the organisation and future electoral battles. The exits have robbed the party of leaders with mass appeal, the process starting with BJPs victory in 2014 following Congresss decade-long rule at the Centre. It has weakened Congresss electoraOriginal Article