Lucknow: UP Congress chief Raj Babbar today sought to distance party vice-president from the electoral rout in the assembly polls saying Rahul Gandhi was not responsible for it and the party had won three of the five state elections under his leadership.
“Congress has won three of the five states where elections were held and this goes on to prove that Rahul Gandhi was successful in his mission,” Babbar told reporters at an event where the seven newly elected party MLAs were felicitated.
He said the party has not yet analysed as to what went wrong for the alliance in UP.
Babbar, however, took responsibility for the poor showing, saying “As President of the state party unit, I take all the responsibility or the defeat.”
He maintained the party’s stand that in Goa and Manipur, the Congress had lost to money and muscle power of the BJP, even after winning the polls.
On the performance of the alliance in UP, he said that Samajwadi Party has started reviewing it and Congress will be carrying out its assessment soon.
The Congress leader refused to comment on questions relating to poll strategist Prashant Kishor.
The party will tomorrow hold a meeting of its candidates who lost, Congress sources said.
—PTI