BJP won UP courtesy polarisation: Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that one of the main reasons for the astounding victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently conducted Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections was polarisation.

"The BJP won the elections in Uttar Pradesh. I would like to congratulate them. There are many reasons why they won it, one being polarisation," Gandhi told the media outside Parliament here.

Downplaying the allegations levelled against the Congress that they are not allowing the regional leaders to come up and the party's top brass was disconnected with them, he said, "We formed the government in Punjab. We won the elections in Manipur and Goa. That's not a bad result."

"It's true that we lost in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. If you look at our Uttarakhand elections and in Punjab, who are running these elections? It's the regional leaders, who are running it. They are the people, who fight the elections and they have been successful in Punjab, Goa and Manipur," he said.

The Congress vice-president also admitted that various structural and organizational changes need to be brought in within the party.

The BJP won 312 of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and its allies emerged victorious in 13 seats. In Uttarakhand, the BJP won 57 of the 70 seats at stake.