Cong blame game after debacle

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Within 48 hours of the drubbing the Congress received in Uttar Pradesh, party leaders in the state have started playing the blame game.

Sanjay Singh, Congress MP from Sultanpur, told reporters on Thursday that his party did not want him to campaign in his constituency.

The Congress failed to win even one seat in Sultanpur. Dr Singh’s wife, Ameeta Singh, also lost her Amethi seat.

“Candidates didn’t feel that I, being a Member of Parliament, will help. They thought they themselves were enough. These gentlemen who were made candidates in my five segments opposed me. I was of the view they may lose or that there was no candidate who could win in these five segments,” Dr Singh said.
UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi decried the blame game initiated by the MP.

“The party is in crisis and this is not the time to blame each other. The whole party cadre is collectively responsible for what has happened and it is wrong to blame any one person for it. As an MP, it was his duty to campaign for the party,” she said.

Ms Joshi admitted that some leaders behaved irresponsibly during the elections and said that there was a great deal of internal sabotage which led to the defeat of several candidates.

“The real reasons will be ascertained when we start a seat-to-seat assessment of the results and before that happens, we cannot point to one individual,” she said.

Meanwhile, speculations are rife in the party about Mr Joshi having offered to take moral responsibility for the Congress debacle and stepping down from the post.