By IANS,
New Delhi : Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Tuesday expressed happiness over the defeat of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but asked the victorious Samajwadi Party (SP) not to repeat its 2002-2007 “rule of goons”.
Reacting to the poll results that indicated a comfortable majority for SP in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, Singh said the defeat of BSP meant the people of the state wanted an end to the “corruption” of Mayawati.
He also said that it was “good” the voters gave a decisive mandate to the SP.
“It is good that the voters of Uttar Pradesh have given a decisive mandate and a majority to the Samajwadi Party. I hope since they have got the support of the people, they will rectify the situation in the state and the goonda raj (rule of goons) of 2002-2007 is not repeated,” Singh said.
“The fight against corruption has won and Mayawati has lost the elections,” he said.
Singh also dismissed suggestions that party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had failed the litmus test in Uttar Pradesh as he was the main campaigner for the party.
“The litmus test for Rahul Gandhi will come when he is projected as the prime minister. He was not projected as chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. So why should the litmus test be for Rahul Gandhi,” he wondered.
“He (Rahul) was not the face of the chief minister. He was not fighting for himself. He campaigned in Uttar Pradesh as leader of the party. We are extremely grateful to him for giving so much of time and campaign for the party,” he added.
On his part, Rahul Gandhi accepted responsibility for the party’s disastrous showing in Uttar Pradesh.
“I fought, so it is my responsibility (for what happened),” Gandhi told reporters here, as it became clear that the Samajwadi Party was poised to take power in Uttar Pradesh.
Taking personal responsibility for the loss of the Congress, which could manage only about 50 seats, Singh said the party could not convince convince the voters that it could defeat the BSP.
“As far as I am concerned, I take all responsibility,” he said,
“We could not convince the voters of Uttar Pradesh that we can defeat BSP. We could not convince them that Congress is strong enough at the ground level to defeat BSP. The people of Uttar Pradesh had made up their mind to defeat BSP,” he said.
He said the Congress had the support of the people in the present, as in the past, but “we could not convert them into votes or seats, despite our vote share increasing.”
Singh noted that in almost all the seats that Congress contested, it had fought “well”.
“But this much is true that the credit for the wins we have posted must go to the party, state leaders and workers,” he added.
The Congress was decimated in Uttar Pradesh, winning barely 27 of 403 seats — marginally more than the 22 it won five years ago.