Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Congress leaders from the State to assess the loss of the party in the Himachal Assembly elections. In the meeting, the Congress president got the feedback from elected MlAs, defeated candidates and party workers.
Gandhi was on his first visit to the State after becoming the Congress president and was accompanied by AICC General Secretary and State in-charge Sushil Kumar Shinde and State Congress Secretary Ranjeet Ranjan.
Soon after the results were announced, both Shinde and Ranjan had met the party leaders from the State and had submitted their report to the Congress President.
After remaining in power for five years, Congress had managed to get just 21 seats as BJP romped home with 44 in the 68-member assembly.
Rahul had planned two sessions — one with candidates and other with office bearers — to review the loss and get feedback. The first session commenced at 12:30 pm. Former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and party president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were present at the meeting at Rajiv Bhawan in the city.
Most of the losing candidates had cited infighting, “sabotage” by local leaders and lack of resources for their defeat.
They had earlier asked Shinde to take strict action against local and top-rung leaders who allegedly worked against the party’s interests. Some presented audio and video clippings as proof of certain Congressmen “sabotaging” the party’s prospects whereas others reportedly accused Virbhadra Singh of promoting local leaders who had their own interests in mind.
This is a first time Congress is holding a post-poll review in Himachal Pradesh. Rahul had held a similar review in Gujarat, where the party failed to regain power even after 22 years of BJP rule, despite putting up a spirited fight.