Assembly polls debacle: Heads to roll in the Congress?

New Delhi: After Congress' disastrous performance in what was being called a mini-general election, NDTV has learnt that party President Sonia Gandhi wants to fix accountability and several state Congress chiefs and general secretaries may be replaced.

Yesterday, making a rare appearance to explain her party's poor show, Ms Gandhi said that the Congress will have to sit down and look at the situation and the results in every single state, and then together work out a plan to correct the mistakes which were made. Tomorrow, Ms Gandhi is expected to meet Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi as part of this exercise. Party sources, however, say that the Congress President wants to send a strong message - accountability needs to be fixed.

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has offered to quit, but his resignation has not yet been accepted, as sources say, Ms Gandhi's point is that one individual alone could not have been responsible.

Over the seven phases of voting in Uttar Pradesh, far too many leaders made controversial statements in every phase. Union Law Minister Salman Kurshid had promised nine per cent sub-quota to minorities within the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota at an election rally for Louise, his wife and Congress candidate from Farrukabad. When the Election Commission (EC) had raised its objections, he had said he stood by his words, forcing the EC to write to the President. Not just Mr Khurshid, while addressing a poll rally on February 15 in Farukkabad, Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma had said "reservation for Muslims will be increased and if EC wants, it can now issue a notice to me."

Advertisement

The Congress lost three states in the assembly elections 2012 and had a terrible performance in Uttar Pradesh. Despite Rahul Gandhi serving as the face of the Congress campaign in UP, the party improved its total by just seven seats - it now has 28 seats in the 403-member assembly, putting it in fourth place.

Another reason for Congress' poor performance was that state leadership in most election states, besides Manipur, was not strong. In Punjab, wrong candidate selection cost the party what seemed a comfortable win, and in Uttarakhand, factionalism worked against them.

Advertisement

Sources say the Congress President is especially upset with Goa results since the Congress-NCP government was seen to be backed by the mining mafia and criminals.

The Congress will soon work out a detailed plan but the idea is to create a strong state-level leadership in key states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh - much on the lines of Haryana and Assam where the Congress has done well in successive elections.