Rahul takes full responsibility for defeat

Congress General Secretary and star campaigner of the party Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took moral responsibility for the loss in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. 

Speaking at his mother's official residence at 10 Janpath, rahul said, “I led the campaign, therefore I am responsible. My work in Uttar Pradesh will continue.”

He added, “ Results is a good lesson for me”.

Rahul also congratulated the Samajwadi Party and its young leader, Akhilesh Yadav, for its victory in the state.

Earlier in the day, UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, in an interaction with the media said, "We are disappointed but not dejected. We will need to analyse the results constituency wise to see where we went wrong. Was it in the selection of candidates or poor organization".

"We have been used to sitting in the opposition for 22 years", she added.



Joshi also said that while the Congress had created an anti BSP mood, it had failed to translate it into votes.
 
It is notable that 323 party candidates had lost their deposits in the 2007 elections and Joshi reasoned that this time the results would be better in terms of better poll percentage.

However, numbers indicate that the Congress seems to be heading for the same fate this time despite the high pitched campaign by Rahul Gandhi.

Joshi is a candidate from Lucknow Cantonment.

Her leadership of the party had caused much heartburn among the top leadership and the fallout of the election results will affect her position in the party.

She did admit that she would take 'moral responsibility' for the defeat.