JOIN USCongress general secretary and party in-charge in Uttar Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, on Wednesday met the three-member committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony, formed to assess the party’s performance in the 2012 Assembly election.
Sources said the committee had given a clean chit to Rahul Gandhi, who came under fire from different quarters following the Congress rout in Uttar Pradesh.
Singh avoided questions on the report which reportedly held wrong selection of candidates,
weak organisational structure and controversial statements made by party leaders during campaigning, responsible for the Congress’ poll debacle.
“Is the committee report out? Has the report been submitted? I have not seen the report. It is your creation. What can I say when the report has not been read by me,” Singh told reporters.
Asked if he owns responsibility for the Congress’ defeat, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said: “You should have asked this question when Congress had won 22 Lok Sabha seats in last general election in 2009.”
“I am responsible. We all are. We are party workers. We off course take responsibility,” he added. Khurshid however said it would be wrong to speculate on the report as it is “not yet out.” “The report will come and we will and on the basis of report, we will move forward," he said.
The three-member committee comprising Antony, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikhsit and Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was formed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to analyse the Congress’ “dismal performance in UP and Goa, unexpected defeat in Punjab and unsatisfactory performance in Uttarakhand.”