The poor show of the congress in the assembly elections in three of the five states has come as a body blow to the congress party leadership in general and to the emerging leadership of party general secretary Mr Rahul Gandhi in particular.

Some of the congress leaders said they were stunned at the defeat of the party in UP and two other states but tried to find the reasons for the defeat. “A wide variety of reasons are to blame for the poor show of the party in the elections,” Congress leader and Minister of State for Science and Technology Ashwani Kumar told media persons in Delhi soon after the results.

The congress is set to form government in Manipur and has run short of a few seats to form Government in Uttarakhand. But the party is out of reckoning in Goa, UP and Punjab.

Taking care not to find fault with the party’s star campaigner in Uttar Pradesh, Ashwani Kumar said the results reflected how people regards various political parties in their states.

Congress chief spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi was rather outright. “I am stunned at the results in Punjab. In fact, the results have baffled me,” he said, adding, he was very much disappointed.

Rajiv Shukla, another congress leader, said the results have not brought happiness for the party. “But you can’t call it a pathetic show,” he averred.

These leaders, however, secretly admit that corruption and related issues were the major factors that decided the voting.

What stunned these leaders was that the results showed no positive affect on the leadership of young leader Rahul Ganhi who participated in more than 200 election rallies and meetings as part of the campaign in UP.

The congress election campaign has also failed to dislodge the the Akali-BJP combine in Punjab.

“The congress leadership should have a serious introspection to find out what went wrong apart from taking steps to strengthen the organizational base,” Ashwani Kumar and Rajiv Shukla said. (J)