Congress may call old stalwarts back

New Delhi: Talks of bringing former Congress leaders back to the parent party have begun in Congress circles following the rout in the Lok Sabha elections which saw the grand old party draw a blank in over a dozen states.

The Congress had received a major jolt when its leaders Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy broke away and formed their own parties.

G.K. Moopnar’s Tamil Maanila Congress, which broke away from the Congress in 1996 on the issue of pre-poll alliance with the AIADMK, had won more Lok Sabha seats than the Congress in Tamil Nadu. But later it had merged with the Congress.

Congress insiders view that the leadership must take an initiative to bring the breakaway parties back in view of the BJP’s challenge.

“Now, we have to be flexible and practical. If we think that we can come to power after five years on the BJP’s mistakes, then we are wrong,” said sources within Congress.