In her first reaction to the party’s defeat in recent Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said they were “disappointing” and the party has learnt lessons from them.“The recent election results were disappointing. Despite the best efforts of our workers, the Congress party did not fare as well as we had hoped in the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. We must not allow these disappointments to divert us from our larger goal of continuing to fulfil the mandate we have and to serve the interest of our people,” she said in her letter to Congress workers in the latest issue of Congress Sandesh.The Congress chief said the party workers had to remember that electoral setbacks did not mean defeat of the party’s principles. “The time has come for us to once again propagate our ideas against the divisive agenda spread by the BJP. This fight does not end with winning or losing elections,” she said, adding that 2008 would be an “important year” for the party. She said chief ministers who were from the party must work in tandem with respective state party chief.Referring to reports suggesting that NREGA has not been systematically implemented across states, she said, “This must change if social development measures are not to remain only on paper. Our party workers must come forward and work with NGOs involved in the sector to weed out corruption and mismanagement.”
