Congress humbly accepts poll verdict: Surjewala (Lead, correcting quote)

The Congress on Thursday said it "humbly" accepted the verdict in the assembly elections in four states and a union territory and will analyse the reasons for its defeat.

"We humbly accept the verdict. We extend our best wishes for good governance and pro-development policies to the winners -- the Left Front in Kerala, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, BJP in Assam," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters here.

"We will continue to serve the people. We hope the new governments in these states will focus on development."

He said besides anti-incumbency factor, the Congress will introspect and look into other reasons for the loss.

Surjewala said the Congress wished to thank the voters for "strengthening democracy by meaningful participation in the electoral process".

He said the party stood determined under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and will continue to champion the cause of the poor, the downtrodden, farmers, farm labourers and the youth.

"Congress workers will continue to put up a determined fight, whether it is central or the state governments, wherever we feel that development has been sidestepped in favour of divisive agenda."

Surjewala said the Congress will stand for the agenda of development and social cohesion, aimed at the uplift of the last man in the queue. It will continue to be a centre point of political discourse in all four states and Puducherry.

Another Congress leader, Mukul Wasnik said: "We expected these results. We will analyse the reasons for our defeat."

--IANS

rak/tsb/vt