NEW DELHI:
Congress veteran and G-23 leader
Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed shock at the party rout in five assembly elections, saying he was “sad and depressed” at the outcome and had expected the party to win 2-3 states. He said senior members who have given their life to the party cannot “watch it dying like this”.
“I don’t want to give a knee-jerk reaction right now. I am sad and depressed at these results. At this moment, it is very difficult to say anything,” he told TOI. However, he did add that “situation is alarming for Congress… but I am in a state of shock and cannot speak on who is responsible and how did this become possible”.
“At least, I expected that we will win in two-three states and improve our situation in Uttar Pradesh, but nothing of that sort happened,” he said.
Expressing disappointment, Azad said Congress should have easily won in Uttarakhand, and also in Goa and Manipur. “AAP coming out of the blue and winning by such a huge margin, and Congress losing so badly that both the state unit president and the chief minister lost… this is unbelievable,” he said.
Given the continuing decline of Congress, the G-23 group of dissidents, who have demanded organisational reforms to rejuvenate the party, are expected to up the ante against the leadership headed by
Rahul Gandhi and his advisors.
However, Azad held back his comments, saying he does not want to speak now and “take advantage of this moment of sorrow and grief”.
But he made his displeasure clear, in what looked like an allusion to his side-lining and repeated rebuff from the party despite offer of organizational work.
“Some people may not feel bad, but leaders like us who have given our life and youth, blood and sweat, to make the party… we cannot see the party dying like this,” he added.
A rattled Congress, in a statement, said party president
Sonia Gandhi has decided to call a meeting of the Congress Working Committee shortly to “discuss threadbare” the election results.
In his reaction, Rahul Gandhi said, "We will learn from this." Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra
, who headed the UP campaign, said, "The party did not succeed in converting the hard work of its workers into votes."
AICC spokesman
Randeep Surjewala
said Congress bowed its head to people’s mandate, while blaming the 4.5 year tenure as CM of its former leader Amarinder Singh for the voters’ disenchantment in Punjab.
CPM credited BJP’s second successive victory in UP to the distribution of free foodgrains to the people. “Overall, these results indicate the continuing dominance of right-wing politics. The Left and democratic forces will evolve fresh strategies and redouble their efforts in the fight against the Hindutva-corporate regime, its policies and growing authoritarianism,” the CPM said in a statement.
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