Hyderabad: A ministerial panel, looking into reasons that led to ruling Congress` embarrassing defeat in the recently concluded Andhra Pradesh bypolls, today discussed ways to strengthen the party from the grassroots.
The committee opined that office-bearers of the party be appointed from village to the state level, state Finance Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy told reporters here.
The panel, comprising several state ministers, agreed that the local body elections be held as soon as possible and the party machinery geared up to face them, he said.
The committee, with Roads and Buildings Minister D Prasada Rao as its convener, was appointed to go into the reasons for the party`s poor performance in the recent bypolls to 18 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency.
Congress managed to win only two assembly seats, while the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy won 15 assembly segments and the lone Lok Sabha seat.
In its previous meetings, the panel of ministers felt that several welfare and development programmes of the state government be taken to the masses effectively to revive the fortunes of the Congress.
PTI
