Stung by its defeat in the by-election to the Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday blamed the Congress for its failure to retain the seat. Not only did the SP lose the Firozabad seat, it also failed to win any of the 11 Assembly seats where by-elections were held.
“I congratulate [Congress general secretary] Rahul Gandhi for the performance of the Congress in Firozabad. He had campaigned for Raj Babbar and it was because of his influence that the Congress managed to wrest the seat from us,” SP general secretary Amar Singh told journalists here.
SP chief Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav lost the seat that was vacated by her husband Akhilesh Yadav, who retained the Kannauj seat.
Earlier, after the Congress decided to field Mr. Babbar, Mr. Amar Singh bemoaned that while his party did not field any candidate against Mr. Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress did not show the same courtesy to Mr. Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law.
