Amethi, Uttar Pradesh:
Nearly two months after the Congress received a drubbing in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the man who lead the campaign for the party, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, is visiting the state for the first time since the new government was sworn in.
The Congress General Secretary, had to, however, face tough talk from his own partymen today, who told him that the Congress lost these elections because it does not deliver on its promises and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty tag no longer fetches in the Gandhi bastions.
Mr Gandhi, who is on a three day tour of his home constituency Amethi, is holding closed door meetings with party workers to assess the performance of candidates in the five assembly seats of Tiloi, Salon, Amethi, Gauriganj and Jagdishpur.
"This is his first trip after assembly elections. He has been busy in Parliament. It is a three-day trip which will end on May 3. He will meet people and try to know them better," said Dwijendra Tripathi, Spokersperson of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC).
Mr Gandhi had served as the face of the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh, however, the party could improve its total by just seven seats - it now has 28 seats in the 403-member assembly, putting it in fourth place.
Particularly biting for the Gandhis was the flat rejection in Amethi and Rae Bareli, constituencies represented by Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. Of the ten seats here, the Congress won just two despite vigorous campaigning by Priyanka, Sonia and Mr Gandhi.
Following the drastic performance, Mr Gandhi, who is 41, had claimed responsibility for the results. "I led the campaign, so it is my responsibility," he said, adding that the result "is a good lesson for me," he had said.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls were swept by the Samajwadi Party (SP) which won 224 seats, ousting the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from power. The SP's performance was credited largely to Akhilesh Yadav, who then went on to become the state's youngest chief minister at 38.
The Congress General Secretary, had to, however, face tough talk from his own partymen today, who told him that the Congress lost these elections because it does not deliver on its promises and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty tag no longer fetches in the Gandhi bastions.
Mr Gandhi, who is on a three day tour of his home constituency Amethi, is holding closed door meetings with party workers to assess the performance of candidates in the five assembly seats of Tiloi, Salon, Amethi, Gauriganj and Jagdishpur.
"This is his first trip after assembly elections. He has been busy in Parliament. It is a three-day trip which will end on May 3. He will meet people and try to know them better," said Dwijendra Tripathi, Spokersperson of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC).
Mr Gandhi had served as the face of the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh, however, the party could improve its total by just seven seats - it now has 28 seats in the 403-member assembly, putting it in fourth place.
Particularly biting for the Gandhis was the flat rejection in Amethi and Rae Bareli, constituencies represented by Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. Of the ten seats here, the Congress won just two despite vigorous campaigning by Priyanka, Sonia and Mr Gandhi.
Following the drastic performance, Mr Gandhi, who is 41, had claimed responsibility for the results. "I led the campaign, so it is my responsibility," he said, adding that the result "is a good lesson for me," he had said.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls were swept by the Samajwadi Party (SP) which won 224 seats, ousting the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from power. The SP's performance was credited largely to Akhilesh Yadav, who then went on to become the state's youngest chief minister at 38.
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