New Delhi: After faring badly in five states--Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Punjab Assembly elections, Congress on Thursday announced that it will convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee "very soon" to introspect the results.
While addressing a press conference, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "In a democracy, the decision of the people is paramount and this is also the strength of our democracy. The election results in five states have been against the expectations of the Congress party. We expected better results in Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab, but we have to admit that we failed to get the blessings of the people".
He further said that Congress could not overcome the anti-incumbency under the leadership of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and thus people of the state voted for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a change.
When asked about the impact of infighting within Congress' Punjab unit, the Congress leader replied to ETV Bharat, "Our leaders need to do self-introspection. We need to think about whether our self ambitions are hampering the party. Our statements or personal opinions must not help our opposition by affecting our own party. We need to think if we are cutting the same tree on whose branch we are sitting upon."
Congress entered the fray having battled factionalism and anti-incumbency. The party changed its chief minister in September last year even as new Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu hinted about his own chief ministerial ambitions. The Congress finally declared Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab, as its chief ministerial candidate days before the polling on February 20.
Meanwhile, Congress opined that in Uttar Pradesh, it has got successful in reviving itself at the grassroots level, but failed to convert that public opinion into seats. He also said that Congress has fought better elections in Uttarakhand and Goa, but could not win the public's sympathy and could not win, asserting that there is a lesson for the party that it needs to work harder on the ground.
Surjewala alleged, "We have made a continuous effort to keep this election away from the issues of casteism and religious polarisation and bring it back to the issues of the people, whether it is unemployment, inflation, sinking economy before the public; education, health and infrastructure development. But it is also true that emotional issues have dominated related to public life.
