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| Amid predictions of rout, Rahul Gandhi calls Congress spokespersons' meet | | | Agencies
New Delhi, May 14: Rahul Gandhi will meet all his party's spokespersons tomorrow as the Congress preps for Friday's counting of votes in the general elections. Exit polls say the ruling Congress faces a humiliating defeat. Mr Gandhi is expected to brief the spokespersons on the Congress' position depending on the results that Friday throws up, in an effort to ensure that the party sends out a clear, coherent message in a single voice, sources said.
In case of an unclear mandate, the Congress has to decide whether it will choose to play a "constructive opposition," or then make efforts to gather together other parties to scuttle an effort by rival BJP to form government.
The 43-year-old Mr Gandhi had led the Congress' campaign and party leaders have attempted to cushion him from the blame of a potential poll disaster ever since voting ended and the exit polls aired.
Senior ministers like Kamal Nath have said that the result will be a reflection on the performance of the Congress-led UPA government for the last 10 years and have stressed that Mr Gandhi has not been a part of that government.
But yesterday Congress president Sonia Gandhi directed party leaders to defend Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reportedly said that there should be collective responsibility for defeat, which the exit polls say could be the Congress's worst ever.
The BJP, which the exit polls say will post its biggest victory, has derided the Congress for using the Prime Minister as a scapegoat. "The mantra in the Congress is to blame others in case of something bad while giving all the credit to the Congress President and Vice-President," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. Congress leaders have repeatedly dismissed the exit polls, pointing out that such surveys had got it wrong in 2004 and 2009, grossly underestimating the party's performance. |
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