Rahul not upset by Bihar Assembly verdict

Despite the Congress drubbing in Bihar Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi is not upset with the election results.

Despite the Congress drubbing in Bihar Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi is not upset with the election results. "No, I am not upset by the Bihar elections," the Congress General Secretary, who played a key role in the campaigning, said in reply to a question by reporters outside Parliament House.

HT Image

The brief remark was Rahul's first comment on the Bihar poll outcome. Congress President Sonia Gandhi had said the results indicated that the party will have to rebuild itself from the scratch.

After the poor showing by Congress in the recently concluded elections where the party's tally was reduced from nine seats to four, political opponents commented that the magic of Rahul and his mother Sonia had not worked.

None of the constituencies in which Rahul campaigned returned a winner from the Congress while only two of the seats where Sonia Gandhi campaigned saw a party candidate winning. Sonia and Rahul had campaigned in 22 of the 243 constituencies in Bihar.

Rahul was also criticised for his decision that Congress should go it alone in Bihar though parties like RJD and LJP had expressed interest in forging an alliance.

Congress is out of power in Bihar for the last over two decades in the wake of the Ayodhya and Mandal issues that changed the politics of the state.