The contention of both the CPM and the CPI is that, rhetoric apart, there is very little to indicate a deep analysis or introspection on the part of the Congress leadership of its political or economic policies which resulted in its debacle in the last two general elections and a sharp decline of its support base.

``Overall, it does not appear that the Pachmarhi deliberations would lead to any sharp break in the party's policies,'' said CPM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet.

``A full-fledged and self-critical review (of Congress functioning) has not taken place,'' declared CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan.

The switchover to a BJP-led government at the helm has been no simple change associated with a democratic system of governance where one party takes over from another.

Thealmost five-decade long monopoly of the Congress has been broken without any single party in a position to take over. Coalition governments at the Centre are the new reality.

The Congress organisation is in shambles, with the party having alienated two big chunks of its support base -- the minorities with its surrender to communal elements on the Babri Masjid demolition and the schedules castes and tribes for failing to deliver numerous promises made to them, said Surjeet in a detailed critique of the Pachmarhi deliberations.

But the biggest contradictions lie in the area economic relations, said Surjeet in his critique which will appear in the forthcoming issue of the party organ, ``People's Democracy''.

Though at Pachmarhi, the Congress reiterated the party's commitment to socialism, sought a revival of investment and employment and protection domestic industry, the experience of the Congress decades was quite the opposite, the CPM observed.

Giving examples of the Congress' "twisted logic", Surjeetsaid while the Pachmarhi conclave talked of better targetting of subsidies for the poor, it was the Congress which had severely cut-back subsidies in the name of managing the fiscal deficit.

``It is thus clear that despite all its tall promises, the Congress party is not willing to reconsider its stand on economy and its problems, nor to give up the so-called structural adjustment programme,'' he added.

Accusing the Congress of a ``lack of sincerity'' on such critical issues as land-reform, the CPM leader said though the Congress on the one hand talks of a ``vigorous implementation of land reforms'', it also cautions against ``fragmentation and subdivision of land holdings''.

Reserving his sharpest criticism for the Congress' capitulation during the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Surjeet said the Pachmarhi conclave ``shied away'' from any introspection of its role.

The CPI General Secretary Bardhan told a press conference that the Congress party's deliberations had made no reference to graft andcorruption which had beset Congress governments in the past.

The question of an alliance with the Congress was still up in the air, Bardhan said, adding that the stage had not yet come for any such alliance.