'Poor party structure led to defeat in Karnataka'

Several State leaders who met Congress President Sonia Gandhi have sought  her nod for the restructuring of the party. The Congress has won only six seats this time as against eight in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

KPCC president R V Deshpande, senior leaders Mallikarjuna Kharge, Siddaramaiah, Dharam Singh and others also met AICC general secretaries A K Antony, Gulam Nabi Azad and Prathiviraj Chauhan and gave reasons such as — lack of proper strategy, failure to raise issues against the BJP Government, delay in announcing tickets and not having enough ‘resources’ — for the party’s set back in the election. The high command, while distributing the tickets had expected the party to win only eight seats in Karnataka  and was disappointed with its performance.