This debacle should be looked into: Kapil Sibal on Congress` poor performance in recent Assembly polls

Kapil Sibal said, `Congress has not performed well in the recently held Assembly polls. It failed in Assam and Kerala. The party could not secure a single seat in West Bengal.`

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal said that the party`s performances must be looked into as it could not secure a single seat in West Bengal and also failed in Assam and Kerala.

"Congress has not performed well in the recently held Assembly polls. It failed in Assam and Kerala. The party could not secure a single seat in West Bengal," Sibal told ANI, days after Assembly poll results in the four states and a Union Territory. 

Kapil Sibal said, "Now when voices are being raised from the party, this debacle should be looked into," adding that he will not comment further on the issue of Congress` performance and will speak on the issue at the appropriate time. 

Former Union Minister said, "We`ll present our views. Today everyone from all parties should work together to save people`s lives amid COVID-19." 

Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the COVID-19 situation in the country, Sibal said that PM should say that we will win this struggle against the pandemic, adding that elections are a different matter but this is a battle of life and death.

When questioned why Congress leaders are calling Mamata "Jhansi ki Rani", he said, "When PM won 2019 polls, I congratulated him, could not have called him Jhansi ki Rani, he was Goliath. We must congratulate leaders who win. Centre did everything and Election Commission helped. Despite that, if Mamata ji gets 2/3rd majority, she should be called Jhansi ki Rani."

The veteran Congress leader, who was part of the rebel G-23 camp in the Congress that had asked for an organisational revamp in a letter to Sonia Gandhi last August, said that the latest poll results were a matter of concern but dealing with the pandemic was a priority.

He and other leaders from the G-23 like Manish Tiwari, Gulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma have congratulated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bengal.

Notably, Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 213 seats in the just concluded West Bengal assembly elections, while the BJP could win only 77 seats in the 294-seat state Assembly.