Rahul Gandhi indicates major shakeup in Uttar Pradesh Congress

Lucknow, May 2 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday dropped enough hints about a major shake up in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party, saying no one would be spared for the poor showing in the February-March assembly elecctions.

Abrubtly cutting short his three-day visit to Amethi and flying off to Assam to meet relatives of those killed in Monday's ferry tragedy, the Gandhi scion told party workers that "none would be spared."

Flooded with reports and complaints that many Congress party leaders had worked at cross-purposes with the leadership during the assembly elections, Gandhi told workers that he was aware of "certain things" that had worked against the party as it tried to take a shot at power after 22 years.

In his interactions with party workers at Tiloi, Munshiganj and Fursatganj, the Congress general secretary tried to reach out to party workers, many of them youngsters, and try to asses on "what actually went wrong".

"He was very concerned about the poor show the Congress put up and was trying to asses for himself why the tide turned against the party mid-way during the polls," a close aide told IANS.

"Rahul is terribly hurt and dismayed at the poll outcome as it was after two decades that the party appeared to set to give it a try in Uttar Pradesh, but somewhere down the line, it all failed," the aide said and confirmed to IANS that during his one on one's with party workers, Rahul was "livid" at what was being told to him and was "clear and categorical" in assuring stringent action against leaders who "under performed".

Close aides and staff attached to Rahul Gandhi have been making detailed reports on the Congress candidate performances during the state polls and is trying to asses the party shortcomings, specially the black sheep in the party. Gandhi also asked party leaders to forget about the humiliation at the hustings and prepare for the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.

In the recent state assembly polls, the Congress won only 28 seats, just a few more than what it bagged five years ago, despite intense campaigning by Rahul Gandhi. So dismal was the Congress show that its candidates lost even in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - Rae Bareli and Amethi.