Salman won't quit as UP Cong president; to await AICC's decision

Lucknow, May 27 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Congress president Salman Khurshid today said he will not resign in the aftermath of party's dismal performance in the assembly elections.

''I am a party worker...if the AICC reorganises the set up, I will follow orders,'' he told reporters in his first media interaction after the seven-phase assembly elections.

The UPCC chief said there had been a tradition to reorganise the set up after elections. ''I take full responsibility of our poor performance...if the high command takes a decision, I will be a party to it,'' he said.

He claimed that despite the poor performance of Congress in elections, it managed to ensure that the Samajwadi Party did not return to power in the state. ''In the interest of democracy, it was essential that the SP did not return to power,'' he said.

The UPCC president maintained that Congress also checked the winning spree of BJP in the elections. ''Our another aim was to see that despoite its winning sprees in other states, BJP is not able to surge ahead in UP...we succeeded in two of the three aims we had set for ourselves,'' he said.

Mr Khurshid also congratulated the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for getting absolute majority in the assembly elections. ''The Centre-State relations which had received a beating during the previous Mulayam Singh regime would get a shot in the arm, the statements of Chief Minister Mayawati indicate,'' he observed.

Congress failed to even maintain the 25 seats it had won in the 2002 assembly elections and could muster only 22 assembly seats this time.

UNI