Rahul Gandhi eats humble pie;takes blame for UP poll debacle

In spite of many within the Congress camp ready to take the blame for the poll debacle in the

and especially so for Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Congress scion in a statement said that he was responsible for the party's dismal performance in the state.

Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the party's rout in the state, he said, "I fought, so it is my responsibility (for what happened)." The loss was so depressing that the Congress won only 27 of 403 seats. 2007 saw them winning 22 seats.

Rahul added, "We fought well but the results are not so good. I promised to the people of UP that I will be seen with the poor, on the roads and fields. My work will continue. My efforts will be to re-erect the Congress in UP."

He said that it was too early to predict on what went wrong for the Congress. He commented, "One or two reasons are very clear... Organizationally we are not where we should be. And the general mood was for the Samajwadi Party... The Congress fundamentals were weak. Until we set that right, that weakness will not go away. Overall our position has improved but it has to be taken forward."

The fact that the Congress was routed in their stronghold of Amethi and Rae Baraeli also came as a shocker. On asked for his comments on the same, Rahul said, "We have not done well in the whole of UP. I view my work as working for the people of this country, trying to improve the political system of this country. Certainly I expect to have victories on my way, and defeats. It will be a good lesson for me."

OneIndia News