UP Congress to discuss poor show at meeting in Lucknow

A week after the Lok Sabha results pinned the Congress down to its worst performance in Uttar Pradesh, the party will take stock of the situation and discuss reasons or its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

A meeting of party office bearers will be held later in the evening in which UPCC President Raj Babbar will be present.

This is Babbar's first visit to Lucknow after he sent his resignation to Congress President Rahul Gandhi last week, owning moral responsibility for the drubbing.

Rahul Gandhi lost his Amethi seat to BJP's Smriti Irani while Raj Babbar lost to BJP's Rajkumar Chahar from Fatehpur Sikri.

The Congress won only one seat in Uttar Pradseh - Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.

The Congress, which had contested 67 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, managed to rank at the second position only in three seats: Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, Raj Babbar in Fatehpur Sikri and Shri Prakash Jaiswal in Kanpur.

In all the remaining seats, party candidates went to the third position and below.

According to Congress spokesman Mukesh Chauhan, the reasons for the Congress defeat will be discussed at the meeting and another meeting will be convened later with the defeated candidates.

The UPCC President will take the feedback from party leaders about the Congress role in by-elections to 11 Assembly segments that will be held in the coming months.

--IANS

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