Stop infighting, prepare for 2014: Sonia to party leaders

Shaken by the poor performance of the Congress in assembly polls in four states, party president Sonia Gandhi has asked senior leaders to stop infighting, take the government's good work to the people and start preparing for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, party sources said Monday.

Soon after the assembly poll results were announced Sunday, the Congress chief said her party needed "deep introspection".

Sources said Gandhi called a meeting Monday of general secretaries in charge to review the assembly results in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, where the party performed badly.

Gandhi asked them to stop infighting, explain social welfare policies and programmes of the central government to the people and start preparing for the next battle of general elections next year.

She said high prices of food items was the main reason behind public anger against the Congress.

She also mentioned the challenge to tackle corruption, which pushes voters away from the party.

Mizoram, where the Congress won comfortably and will form the government again, has come as the only saving grace for the party in this round of assembly polls, widely seen as a "semi-final" ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

While the Congress was decimated in Delhi, winning just eight of the 70 seats, its main rival BJP won an absolute majority in Rajasthan, winning 162 seats of the 199 seats for which polls were held.

The Congress could get only 21 seats in Rajasthan, where it was ruling for five years.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP retained power winning 165 of 230 assembly constituencies, and the Congress won only 58.

In Chhattisgarh too, the BJP retained power, wining 49 of 90 seats, while the Congress won 39.