Congress leaders blame poll rout on absence of workers on ground, sidelined senior members

In March, the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the state assembly polls by bagging 255 seats, while the Samajwadi Party stood a distant second with 111 seats. The Congress’s footprint in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly was reduced to just two MLAs after the assembly polls and its mere voteshare shrunk to a mere 2.6 per cent. Shortly after the poll results, Congress state chief and former Tamkuhi Raj MLA Ajay Kumar Lallu resigned from the post.

The poll rout came at a time when Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led an aggressive poll campaign with its ‘Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’ pitch.

“Leaders and workers from each district are being given time to share their opinions and make suggestions for strengthening the party. Most of the workers feel that we went into polls without any actual cadre on the ground. Others felt that senior leaders were neglected and the decision to give tickets to a large number of women candidates was one made in haste without ensuring co-ordination between the cadre and the candidate. These reasons resulted in the party not just losing its seats but also its voteshare,” said a party leader.

Singh, who would be conducting a review and submitting a report to the party brass, would hold another round of meetings in Lucknow on Saturday. Party leaders said that he would then visit Varanasi and Jhansi to assess the performance of Congress divisions in the districts.

Talking to media persons on Friday, Singh said that the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit would get a chief soon.

“Party leaders and workers are giving their suggestions and opinions about the Congress’ performance in the assembly polls. Apart from understanding the reasons behind the party’s performance in the polls, Congress is also taking suggestions from leaders about strengthening its future,” he added.

The districts whose leaders were called for the review meeting on Friday included Lucknow, Barabanki, Pratapgarh, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Bahraich, Unnao, Kanpur, Hardoui, Sitpuar,Balrampur and Gonda.

On Saturday, leaders from districts like Sultanpur, Bati, Sant Kabir Nagar, Sidharthanagar, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar, Lakhimpurkhiri, Shahjahanpur and Pilibhit would be meeting Singh.