The Indian Express spoke to Congress star campaigner for the Karnataka assembly elections and former Chief Minister S M Krishna after the verdict. Excerpts from a candid and exclusive conversation:•To what do you attribute the Congress party’s defeat in the 2008 assembly elections?The Congress bungled in the selection of candidates and an election strategy to get the party to a position of power in the State.•What kind of bungling?Well, the projection of leaders was not done in a manner that attracted the voters. •Do you mean a chief ministerial candidate?Let us just say State level leaders were not projected clearly. •About the selection of candidates?Every party works out a study well before the onset of the elections, but one could find a number of missing links in the Congress party’s strategy. •What kind of missing links?The selection of candidates, for one. The selection was done in a manner that was totally isolating the local elements in the election process. See, every constituency has a history of its own, perhaps, we floundered in trying to connect to that history. Also, those who were and are aware of these issues were not taken into confidence in the decision-making process. •Do you mean the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)? Was there a difference of opinion between the KPCC and the High Command in Delhi?The Congress leadership is KPCC in the state. But I will only say that whoever mattered the most were not taken into confidence. •When you announced your resignation as Governor of Maharashtra, everybody expected you to contest. What happened?(Laughs) That is a question that I have been asked by all who are politically active since I got here. Why were you brought here if you were not contesting? Well it was a question that the Congress workers kept asking me and the electorate asked the Congress workers the same question. •Would you elaborate?There was no clarity in the Congress strategy. See, a strategy need not be transparent, but there should be a hidden strategy. However, till today nobody knows what that hidden strategy was or what it exactly achieved for the Congress. •Any thoughts about the BJP victory?They worked systematically and projected a leader from the beginning. They took advantage of such projections.•Was an alliance with the JD(S) on the cards at some point?The stated position of the party was and is that if we did not achieve a clear majority, we would sit in the opposition. •Would an alliance with the Samajwadi party or the Bahujan Samaj party made a difference to the Congress?The election results have shown that they did not really matter in these elections.•So what are the Congress’ plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections?We have a lot of introspection to do, a lot of party rebuilding. We will be prepared when the time comes. •What about S M Krishna? Where will you go now?I will stay in Karnataka and continue working with the party.
