New Delhi: Congress on Thursday voiced disappointment over election trends in five states as they suggested that the party has lost in Kerala and Assam ruled by it and failed to make a dent in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu despite alliances.
At the same time, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said that the outcome was "not unexpected" and cited yearning for a "change" as the reason for the party's debacle in Assam, where three-term Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was leading Congress.
"The results are disappointing but not unexpected. After 15 years Assam was perhaps looking for a change, Kerala is cyclic," he said.
With the Congress-CPI-M alliance failing to pose a threat to ruling Trinamool Congress, he said that despite the outcome, the alliance between Congress and the Left is "most natural".
Tewari's reaction came as trends indicated that BJP appears to have stormed Assam unseating Congress which also looks like losing Kerala as incumbent TMC and AIADMK are cruising comfortably to retain power in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said though the outcome in Kerala and Assam was not surprising,West Bengal assembly polls' results had come as a disappointment for the party as it expected to do much better.
"We are not entirely surprised by what happened in Assam and Kerala. We had tremendous anti-incumbency in Assam. We have been in power there for 15 years. And in Kerala after every five years, the results are new. I don't think these results are a set back for Congress.
"Results in West Bengal are disappointing. I am surprised by our less than anticipated showing in Bengal. We certainly expected to do much better. We were confident that the alliance will do very well. We need to look at it in some detail," Ramesh said.
Another Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that the party could not meet the expectations of the people but at the same also expressed satisfaction that it did not adopt "divisive and destructive" politics to win polls.
"People have not rejected us but people have not accepted us as well. We could not meet their expectations. We accept the mandate.
"We did not make tall promises, nor adopted the path of divisive and destructive politics. Neither will we do so in the future," Singhvi said.
