UPA need not be defensive or apologetic: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, Aprl 3: Congress is facing anti- incumbency after 10 years in power, Union Minister

admitted on Thursday, saying it poses a challenge as the party lost the battle of perception because the top leadership was "not communicative".

He acknowledged that it is a "challenging" campaign in the elections ahead but maintained that the party would get a decent, dignified and respectable three-digit number.

"Hyperactive judiciary, overactive constitutional functionaries like CAG, aggressive media and irresponsible civil society combined... "Our reaction was also slow. We came across...we did not communicate our point of view effectively. Our top leadership was not communicative. Politics is all about communication. So we lost the battle of perception and we did not take them seriously enough," Ramesh said in an interview to PTI.

He was responding to a question as to what in retrospect went wrong in the last two years of UPA government to create a perception of corruption-ridden and indecisive government, pushing the party back to the wall in the elections. However, Ramesh insisted that there was "no need to be defensive or apologetic" about the performance of UPA-II and Congress will be getting a "decent, dignified, respectable, three-digit number" in the elections.

PTI