At a meeting to take stock of the poll debacle on Monday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the party would have to bring down inflation before the Lok Sabha contest. Sonia also hinted at effecting organizational changes as part of correctives in the wake of the defeats.
Congress managers told the party leadership that the opposition seized upon shooting prices to slam the UPA. In fact, BJP turned the elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chhattisgarh to national issues like inflation that hemmed in Congress and undercut its strategy of cornering BJP on local issues.
Sources said AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Gurudas Kamat pointed to how two party candidates publicly urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a Jaipur rally to stall any decision on hiking diesel price till the election process.
He said diesel price went up immediately afterwards and BJP started a shrill campaign to corner the Congress.
Price rise was also mentioned by other leaders as a major handicap in Congress's campaign in the assembly polls.
Mohan Prakash, in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, slammed infighting in the state unit as the reason behind the failed campaign which saw BJP romp home comfortably for a third co nsecutive time.
Prakash said he failed to patch up the differences between state satraps and the party unit remained a divided house which cost the election.
He also pointed to how the party had managed to raise its vote share in MP but which was neutralized by the BJP's success in raising its vote share even higher.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi expressed concern over the party's failure to expand the support base.
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