Having put up a dismal show in the Bihar polls, Congress today said it was a “tough time” for party politics in the state and that it will analyse why huge crowds in rallies of its top leaders could not translate into votes.
The available trends suggest that Congress is all set to fare even worse than its last election’s performance in which it had got 9 seats in the state despite a whirlwind tour of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
AICC general secretary in-charge for Bihar Mukul Wasnik said he takes full responsibility for the results in the state but refused to accept that Mr. Gandhi’s “magic” failed to work.
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“The time which Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi gave for Bihar had benefited us greatly. It enthused our party workers. None of their rallies had less crowds.
“But as far as election results are concerned, they are a different issue. We will have to find out the reason as why we could not translate the huge crowds that came in rallies addressed by our party leaders into votes,” Mr. Wasnik told reporters here.
He said, “It is tough time for Congress politics in Bihar.”
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Conscious decision
The Union Minister refused to accept that it was a wrong decision to go alone in Bihar by dumping old ally Lalu Prasad’s RJD and said “it was a conscious decision“.
“It was a new beginning and now the results have come.
Nobody was thinking that we would make way easily. I don’t believe that we committed a mistake by going alone. We wanted to create our own space in Bihar.... the path may be longer.
It was a conscious decision,” he said to a volley of questions.
He said “organisation is a continuity” and added that he does not believe that “someone becoming in—charge at some point of time” could be a reason for the party’s defeat.
Mr. Wasnik, at the same time, said “Being in-charge of the state, I take full responsibility for the results“.
Asked about wrong ticket distribution and play of money into the exercise, he said, “Nothing in particular has come to my knowledge“.
He maintained that the party will definitely go into all the issues once the final results are out.