Poll post-mortem continues: Congress holds poll review meet for Rajasthan, Mizoram

Sources said that factional fights despite a show of unity between Gehlot and Pilot, communal campaign by the BJP, and state's tendency to vote out governments were among a series of reasons cited by leaders for the defeat in Rajasthan.

New Delhi: Top leaders of Congress on Saturday reviewed the electoral reverses in Rajasthan and Mizoram with a message that accountability will be fixed while preparing the organisation for the Lok Sabha elections.

Leaders sought to project the party maintaining its vote share in Rajasthan as a positive while claiming that the Congress ended up with a dismal performance in Mizoram due to ZPM’s “silent connivance” with the BJP, which is trying to use “proxies” to get a toe-hold in the north-east.

Sources said that factional fights despite a show of unity between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, communal campaign by the BJP, and the state's tendency to vote out government were among a series of reasons cited by leaders for the defeat in Rajasthan.

However, leaders found a positive in the impressive number of seats the Congress won in Rajasthan despite losing power. It also managed to hold on to its vote share.

The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Gehlot, Pilot, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, and CWC member Jitendra Singh, among others.

“The vote share difference between Congress and BJP was very less. In many seats, Congress candidates lost by very few votes,” Randhawa told reporters after the meeting.

Asked whether there will be changes in leadership, he asked what is the need for changes when the party has not done badly. At the same time when queried whether accountability will be fixed, he said, “accountability will be fixed.”

After the meeting on Mizoram, in-charge Bhakta Charan Das said the people of the state wanted to vote for ZPM and Congress but the former “silently connived” with the BJP, which has no presence in Mizoram.

“The BJP solidly backed the ZPM. The BJP sent a lot of ministers and leaders,” he alleged. Congress won just one seat in the state.

On Friday, the party held discussions on the results of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Sources said Kamal Nath’s one-upmanship as well as the party’s sole projection of him while leaving other leaders behind, and lacklustre campaign were cited as the reasons for the loss, among others. Leaders said the party could not attract the OBCs, who overwhelmingly voted for the BJP, though it managed to hold on to tribal and Dalit votes.

In Chhattisgarh, sources said the focus of Bhupesh Baghel on rural areas, BJP’s communal campaign, and infighting within the party were among the reasons cited by the leaders for their poll debacle.