Jorhat, May 20: The Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) is coming to grips with the losses suffered by many Congress leaders who belong to the tea tribe in the Assembly polls.

The ACMS, with its central office in the premier tea town of Dibrugarh in Upper Assam, is Intuc-affiliated and the oldest and largest tea workers' union in Assam.

The union plans to organise its general council meeting next month in Lahowal (Dibrugarh), where office-bearers of all 22 branches and garden unit leaders will take stock of the results and put forward ideas to chalk out plans to reconsolidate the Congress base in the tea belt.

The union has been the unofficial arm of the Congress in the tea estates and had built up a strong base for the party to bring it to power in parliamentary and Assembly polls over the decades.

Of late the union has faced stiff challenge from the BJP, resulting in the reverses the Congress suffered in the 2014 general elections and this year's Assembly polls.

Former two-time Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, who is the current ACMS president, outgoing forest minister Atuwa Munda, former minister and former Assembly Speaker Prithibi Majhi, outgoing deputy Speaker Bhimananda Tanti and Gautam Dhanowar (son of veteran leader Rameshwar Dhanowar) bit the dust.

Other Congress leaders who lost, like Pradyut Bordoloi (Margherita), Sarat Borkataky (Sonari), Arun Phukan (Bokakhat) and Arati Hazarika Kachari (Dergaon), were from seats that have a substantial tea community population.

"The results have been disappointing and is a setback for the Congress and the union which has been an indisputable organisation in the tea belt," ACMS general secretary Dileshwar Tanti told The Telegraph today from Dibrugarh.

Admitting that the Congress has not been able to recover lost ground after the 2014 debacle, Tanti said a big introspection was needed. He also blamed the state government for failing to give adequate attention to the tea workers during its tenure, which was one of the causes of the community drifting towards the BJP.

"The ACMS, from time to time, has been raising the plight of tea workers to press for grant of their legitimate rights and take steps to improve their living conditions by ensuring proper implementation of the labour laws by the garden companies. We even resorted to demonstrations and organised protests to demand payment of outstanding dues to workers of state-owned Assam Tea Corporation Limited gardens," Tanti said, adding that the government's response had not been satisfactory.

Munda, in his reaction, agreed that introspection was needed to find out the causes and undertake corrective measures to re-strengthen the party by correctly fathoming the aspirations of the people.

ATTSA assistant general secretary Dhiraj Gowala said people were fed up with the "old faces" as they "failed to deliver" over the decades and so have gone for new young leaders from the community.

Most of the big Congress tea leaders were earlier ATTSA office-bearers and many BJP leaders who have won this time, like Terash Gowalla, Sanjoy Kishan and Pallab Lochan Das were former ATTSA leaders, Gowala said. He pointed out, however, that young Congress tea leaders like Rupjyoti Kurmi, Durga Bhumij (former ATTSA leader) and Roselina Tirkey have managed to win.