Lost LS poll due to disunity, must learn from past: Yadav

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14

In an interview on the eve of launch of the first Congress campaign event, state campaign committee chairman Ajay Singh Yadav on Saturday said the party must learn from its Lok Sabha debacle.

He said there was no convention of announcing a chief ministerial candidate, barring exceptions. “We must learn from past mistakes. The Congress lost Lok Sabha elections due to factionalism and disunity. The onus of working together in the best interest of the party lies on each leader in the state unit. If we do not do that, people will not forgive us,” Yadav said.

He said his endeavour would be to bring all leaders together, address anxieties and misgivings and stress on “social engineering”.

“We have to give due respect to leaders of every community, be it Kumari Selja, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Tanwar, Naveen Jindal or Kuldeep Bishnoi. Every leader must have space and we must go to the people as one,” Yadav said.

Asked if the Congress should declare a chief ministerial candidate and whether such an announcement would help party prospects, he said, “No.”

“There is no convention of declaring a chief ministerial candidate. The real purpose of the reshuffle was creation of collective leadership to further party ideology. In the last state elections, Kiran Choudhry was chosen as leader of the legislature party after elections,” Yadav said.

On a question about the main plank against the BJP, he said, “We will simplify GST and other taxes and amend the Motor Vehicles Act. We will have schemes for investment in education and health. We are for one medical college between two districts. Our agenda of working for SCs and OBCs will continue.”

He was not in favour of leaders who contested Lok Sabha elections being in the fray for Assembly poll. “I contested the Lok Sabha election. I do not want to contest the Assembly poll. I do not think Lok Sabha candidates should fight state elections, but the party will take a call keeping winnability in mind,” he said.

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‘We value leaders of all communities’

"We have to give due respect to leaders of every community, be it Kumari Selja, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Tanwar, Naveen Jindal or Kuldeep Bishnoi. Every leader must have space and we must go to the people as one." —Ajay Singh Yadav, chairman of state campaign committee