New Delhi: Having faced its worst ever defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday admitted that her party failed to gauge the voters' anger against the party which ultimately led to its massive rout.
After being re-elected as the Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party on Saturday, Sonia acknowledged there was "widespread anger against us which we failed to adequately gauge" and said "we have to individually and collectively draw the appropriate lessons from this unprecedented setback".
She also asked the party leaders to refrain from washing their dirty linen in public. The Congress chief, who was made the CPP chief for the fifth time in a row since 1998, asked partymen to avoid "public acrimony" saying their inputs, experience and assessment of the party's strengths and weaknesses "rather than public acrimony" will be critical to the exercise to draw the right lessons to put the party back on the rail.
The Congress Parliamentary Party earlier met to elect its new Chairperson amidst growing dissent within the party over its defeat.
A resolution passed by the CPP reached out to "progressive and secular forces" to present a united opposition and assured other like-minded parties that Congress will extend its cooperation in this regard.
The resolution came at a time when Narendra Modi-led BJP is set to assume power as the only party in the last 30 years to achieve parliamentary majority on its own and Congress' tally of seats stands reduced to just 44.
Rahul Gandhi, who is being increasingly targeted over the party's poll debacle, was seated on one of the back benches in the Central Hall of Parliament where the CPP meeting took place.
(With inputs from PTI)
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