Need time to analyse U.P. results: Khurshid

With his party not faring well in the Uttar Pradesh elections, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Tuesday said the party leadership will assess the performance and draw conclusions.

“The campaign looked very good but I cannot take any instant decision. Please allow us some time,” Mr. Khurshid said while replying to a question on what went wrong for the party in the State.

Putting up a brave face, he said while the results are disappointing, the Congress has performed better than last time and added that “there would be other elections two years down the road and five years down the road.”

Mr. Khurshid refused to be drawn into the comparison between Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

“Do you think I know Akhilesh that well... Please give us little time for the wisdom to dawn on us,” Mr. Khurshid said.

On whether the Congress underestimated the SP during the U.P. campaign, he said the party had targeted the Bahujan Samaj Party this time as it was in power in the State.

“We did not underestimate any body. We targeted BSP as it was in power. In last election, we targeted SP and BSP got the benefit,” he said.

Mr. Khurshid denied suggestions that the U.P. campaign of the Congress had suffered as it lacked strong local leadership.

“There were lots of very good leaders campaigning in UP with base there in the state,” he said.

He hoped the election results would not impact the forthcoming Budget Session of Parliament.

“I hope it does not. There are all sensible people in Parliament,” he said.