It was a different Sonia Gandhi that one got to see on Wednesday. Contrary to what one would expect, Congress President Sonia Gandhi looked relaxed during her ten-minute interaction with media persons in Delhi, a day after the party’s dismal showing in assembly elections to UP, Punjab and Goa.
She fielded a range of questions with aplomb and came across very earnest in her answers. Sonia still has her thick English accent, but her Hindi seems to have improved very well.
During the press conference, she seemed armed with information, displayed better understanding of the ground situation and was far from apologetic for the debacle in UP.
She was also unperturbed when asked tricky questions about losing in Rai Bereili and Amethi. Smiling through most of the interaction, she was very forthcoming in her responses.
And despite her Sphinx-image, Sonia was full of expressions. Check the video clip.
She ruled out any “damage” to the UPA government in the wake of electoral outcomes in which, she said, wrong choice of candidates and weak organisation in UP played a role in the party’s dismal performance.
Queried whether lack of leadership was behind poor performance, she responded, “I would say rather than lack of leadership, (there are) too many leaders… That is our problem.”
She said price rise could have been a factor for the party’s poor performance in the elections and declared that the Congress has to “pull up its socks” for the coming battles in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.
