Don't blame Rahul Gandhi for Congress reverses: Jayanthi Natarajan

NEW DELHI: Do not blame Rahul Gandhi for the Congress reverses in the Assembly polls, Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan suggested today maintaining that it was a "collective failure" and the party will introspect.

"Congress is not a one man show. ...It is a collective defeat and collective failure," the Congress leader said dismissing suggestions that the Congress Vice President was to be blamed for the poor show.

"We will introspect on our losses, we will see where we have gone wrong and I am very sure as happened in 1998-99 when we won state elections and lost the Lok Sabha...as happened in 2003 when BJP actually won the Assembly polls and lost the Lok Sabha," she said.

Natarajan's comments came as BJP is heading for landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, while wresting power in Delhi.

A thriller is on the cards in Chhattisgarh with BJP and Congress ahead in equal number of seats.

Acknowledging that performance of AAP in the Delhi polls has "surprised" his party, Union minister Sachin Pilot felt the results could have been a "knee jerk reaction" to the incidents that has happened in the city during the past one year.

Congress, however, needs to hold on to its rank and understand the reasons for the loss, he said.

"All is not over, we have six months for (Lok Sabha) elections. This is not an end. This is a semi-final election. This is a big setback for us in Delhi and Rajasthan. This is not the full stop in our story," he said.