A day after the Congress received a shocker by way of the Bihar Assembly election results, the party has gone into an “introspection” mode to “understand” the reasons behind its poor performance.
“The party as a whole takes responsibility for the defeat in Bihar and we will introspect upon it and understand the reasons for the loss,” Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told journalists here.
She said introspection was an internal process, but the final view would be taken by the high command. “It is an ongoing and dynamic process,” she said when asked whether responsibility would be fixed on individuals, particularly those in charge of the State.
Ms. Natarajan denied any knowledge about Bihar in-charge Mukul Wasnik's offer to resign.
“We believe that all those entrusted with the campaigning had worked very hard to draw up strategies, but somewhere things had gone wrong,” she said.
On the charge that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had failed to draw votes, she said: “I totally reject that notion. Nobody in the party had ever claimed that Mr. Gandhi had a magic wand. It was a media creation.”
“Mr. Gandhi is an icon of the youth, and he is working to galvanise the youth and the party cadre. He did so in Bihar too.” He was well-received in Bihar, but as to why the crowds did not translate into votes was a matter the party was studying.
“He continues to be an icon and will continue to travel across the country,” she said, adding that she did not believe the party had been “devalued” in any way.
Coming to the defence of Mr. Gandhi, who in all his election rallies in Bihar had claimed that the State government had taken credit for all schemes funded by the Centre, the spokesperson said the funds were the State's entitlement. The Congress was just unable to send the message across to the people, she added.
