Rahul not to be blamed if UP results not favourable: Cong

Rahul Gandhi is not to be blamed if Congress does not perform well in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections whose results will be out on Tuesday, party leaders said on Saturday.

"A leader creates an atmosphere. To convert that atmosphere into votes and seats is the responsibility of candidates and the organisation," AICC general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, told reporters in New Delhi.

He was replying to questions on his Friday's statement that he and PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, and not Rahul, should be held responsible if election results in UP are not in favour of the party.

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said those leaders who are in charge of the state affairs are responsible for the good or bad performance of a political party in elections.

"Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are our national leaders. They go to all states to help the party. Rahul is not attached with any particular state. He is our national leader and goes to every state to help the party improve its performance. It's basically the leaders who are in charge of the state affairs, who are responsible for election results," Alvi said.

Both Singh and Alvi, however, dismissed exit polls, some of which are placing Congress in the fourth position in UP.

Singh said he remains firm on his earlier statements that Congress will have "miraculous" results in UP, while Alvi said the party has faith in people and is not bothered about what exit polls are saying. "We will accept whatever is the people's verdict," he said.

Alvi refused to answer questions on possibilities of post-poll alliance with Samajwadi Party dubbing such contentions as "hypothetical".

"We should wait for March 6, when the results are out. Till then these questions are hypothetical," he said when asked whether the party could ally with SP to form government in case the results throw up a hung Assembly.