The much-talked about report of the AK Antony panel, which went into the reasons of worst-ever poll debacle of Congress, has, not blamed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in its observations.
Congress leader AK Antony on Friday dismissed reports that there was a question mark on the leadership of Rahul Gandhi after the elections and that the committee has suggested something like that.
“This is all speculation. Nothing. Absolutely wrong. Those who are spreading this kind of rumours want to weaken the party…Such things are being spread by mischievous people, who want to weaken the party,” he said on the sidelines of the flag hoisting ceremony at AICC headquarters.
Antony, who headed a committee that probed the reasons for Congress’ loss in the Lok Sabha poll, submitted its report to party president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
“I am not going to reveal or say anything about the content of the report,” said Antony.
“Rahul and Sonia ji were the ones who held rallies across the country. Something else was the reason for the loss,” the former defence minister said.
However, he did not elaborate as to what conclusions the panel has arrived at for the worst-ever defeat of Congress in the 2014 General Elections.
Sonia and Rahul did not take questions from the media and left after wishing ‘Happy Independence Day’ to all.
Antony insisted that it was Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, who toured throughout the country and addressed rallies in the run-up to the polls.
All the four members of the panel Antony, Mukul Wasnik, RC Khuntia and Avinash Pandey had met the Congress president and submitted the voluminous report.
“I do not want to go into details. I will not reveal the details…I do not want to say anything about the content of the report,” was his brief response to questions like whether his panel has faulted the communication strategy of the party or blamed the way media reported during Lok Sabha polls.
“We are confident, just as we did in 1977, we will overcome this difficult phase as well. Congress will overcome this. We will be able to regain the loss, strengthen our party, and strengthen our mass base again. We will revive under leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul,” Antony said.
