GUWAHATI, May 16 � Following the worst ever debacle of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in the State, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said that he would offer to resign owning moral responsibility for the party�s poor showing in the elections.
Talking to The Assam Tribune this afternoon, Gogoi said that though it is for the legislators to elect their leader, it has been a common practice for all parties to select leaders. �Narendra Modi has been nominated as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP and the same is the case in our party. That is why I have decided to offer before the party high command to step down owning moral responsibility for the party�s poor show,� he added.
Gogoi also pointed out that he had announced long back that he would offer to resign if the party�s performance becomes worse than that of the 2009 polls, when the Congress won seven seats.
Gogoi admitted that though winning or losing in polls are collective responsibilities, as the leader of the team, it would be his duty to accept moral responsibility for the defeat.
When asked to outline the reasons for the poor performance of the Congress in Assam, Gogoi said that there were several factors for the results. He pointed out that there was a wave all over the country in favour of the BJP, which also affected Assam. He said that waves are nothing new in politics. In 1985, the Congress suffered because of the wave in favour of the AGP, while in the last Assembly polls, the Congress won 79 seats because of a wave in favour of the party.
The Chief Minister said that issues like price rise and the high promises made by the BJP also affected the results. �We were far behind Modi in propaganda and publicity,� he admitted.
He further said that polarization of voters on religious lines was another reason for the poor show of the Congress as majority of the Hindu votes went in favour of the BJP and a major chunk of the Muslim votes went to the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
Meanwhile, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhubaneswar Kalita admitted that it was like a tsunami in favour of the BJP in the entire country. He said that the party would soon analyse the reasons for the debacle.
On the Chief Minister�s offer to step down, Kalita said that it should be collective responsibility. �It is not only the responsibility of the Chief Minister. We must all accept moral responsibility for the defeat,� he added.
