Congress must blame itself for electoral defeat in Guj

Shillong, Jan 12 (UNI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno A Sangma today said the Congress should blame itself for losing the recent electoral battle in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The Congress suffered its electoral defeats in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh mainly due to its failure to project the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, the former Lok Sabha Speaker said during an election campaign here.

Taking a dig at the Congress in Meghalaya, Mr Sangma, a former Congress leader, dared the party to project its Chief Ministerial candidate for the coming elections.

The party has too many leaders scrabbling for the top post and they will not be able to decide their Chief Ministerial candidate before the people, Mr Sangma said.

Mr Sangma also said the United Democratic Party (UDP), an ally of the ruling Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government would also not be able to project its Chief Ministerial candidate since two former Chief Ministers E K Mawlong and J D Rymbai, had left the Congress and joined the UDP.

The NCP had already portrayed Mr Sangma as its Chief Ministerial candidate.

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