Ponnala, Digvijay responsible for Congress rout in Telangana, Rahul told

New Delhi: Senior Congress leaders from Telangana held AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and PCC chief Ponalla Lakshmaiah “squarely responsible” for the party’s humiliating defeat in the recent polls during a meeting with Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the duo failed at every step in the campaign and functioned unilaterally.

In a frank discussion with the party’s vice-president at his residence here on Friday, the leaders who lost the Lok Sabha polls by a huge margin also complained about the “attitude” of Digvijay and Laxmaiah who they said functioned on their own  and released the manifesto only at the eleventh hour.

The leaders who met Mr Gandhi are Mr Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Mr Ponnam Prabhakar, Mr G. Vivekanad and newly elected MP G. Sukhinder Reddy. The Congress won just two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats in Telangana.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr Yaskhi said they shared their assessment of the party's performance and why the Congress fared so badly in the polls.

"We told him what was in our mind. We also told Mr Gandhi that the campaign could have been managed in a much better way as it was the Congress, which gave Telangana. We told him that it was quite bad that the state leadership could not capitalise on T the sentiment"  the MPs said after the meeting.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that the leaders wanted Mr Gandhi to find out from Mr Digvijay why the much talked alliance or merger with TRS did not happen. The former MPs expressed displeasure at the way candidates were selected without consultations with local MPs.

"None of the MPs were consulted on candidate selection as well as strategy. We were left in the lurch and the general secretary in-charge did not even find time to ask the state unit on why the manifesto was not released on time. There was absolutely zero coordination with people on the ground"  the leaders told Mr Gandhi.

The leaders also blamed Mr Digvijay for the failure of the alliance and merger talks with TRS and its chief K. Chandrashekar Rao. "TRS chief KCR made the announcement of a likely merger of his party after meeting Sonia Gandhi. But the General Secretary did not follow it up. At least, an alliance could have been finalised. But nothing happened after that"  the leaders told Mr Gandhi.

The former MPs told Mr Gandhi that Mr Singh and the PCC did not properly handle even the visit of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to Telangana. They said the party could have won a good share of seats if the campaign was well planned.

The former MPs also reassured Mr Gandhi that they would stand by him and that they endorse his leadership.