Former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who was replaced by Harish Rawat by the party’s high command on February 1, 2014, has categorically said that if Priyanka Gandhi had been sent for canvassing in areas other than Rae Bareli and Amethi seats of UP, then such situation would not have occurred. He further said that the Congress defeat in all five lok Sabha seats of the State is the collective responsibility of the national as well as the State Congress leaders.
In the recently concluded general elections, the main Opposition party BJP created history by riding on the Modi wave. The ruling Congress faced its worst ever defeat and conceded that it had failed to connect with the voters across the nation. If the sheer scale of the BJP's landslide victory surprised the poll pundits, the fact that the ruling Congress could not even open its account in seven States also made the political observers gasp at its dismal performance.
The Congress, India's oldest party, which had ruled the country for a decade since 2004, faced its worst humiliation as its tally slipped much below its record of 114 seats in the 1999 polls. The party could only win 44 seats - its worst tally in the lok Sabha polls where it had never fallen to two digits. The Congress had won 206 seats in 2009.
“The Congress should have involved Priyanka Gandhi in other than two constituencies namely Rae Bareli and Amethi then party would have not witnessed such annihilation. It has now been proven that wherever Priyanka visited people responded positively so now time has come to put more responsibility on her”, he said. Although Bahaguna refused to make any comment on the Congress scion and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s complete failure and said that now the time has come to increase Priyanka’s field of operation.
As far as Congress defeat in Uttarakhand is concerned then it is not a complete failure of State leadership but it was collective responsibility of every leader of Congress either from State or nation. It is also matter of introspection that why party witnessed such annihilation. In 2009 Congress had won all five seats of the state and within five years party lost all five seats of the state.
Vijay Bahuguna, who along with his son Saket Bahuguna and his daughter-in-law Gauri Bahuguna, was on his way to Jollygrant to catch a flight for Delhi, said that he would review the data about how his son Saket Bahuguna lost Tehri seat to BJP candidate Mala Rajya laxmi Shah by more than 1.92 lakh votes. It would be pertinent to mention here that Saket had first time lost election to Mala Rajya laxmi Shah in Tehri lok Sabha by-polls 2012 by 22,000 votes but now he lost with more than 1.92 lakh votes. Ex CM Bahuguna further said that “the result was out of my imagination and need to introspect.”