UP debacle organisational failure: Sonia

Terming the party's performance in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls as "very disappointing", Congress president Sonia Gandhi today blamed it on organisational failure and asked partymen to gear up for the assembly polls in Gujarat and Goa.

In her first comments after the UP polls, Gandhi said, "our performance has been very disappointing.

"We mounted a spirited campaign, and we witnessed a great deal of goodwill and support towards our party. Organisationally, we were not able to transform that goodwill into votes," she said at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior ministers.

Talking about SEZs, Gandhi today said it was her party's view that land acquisition for SEZs must be done in a transparent manner.

"Our party's position is very clear. Land acquisition for these SEZs, like indeed for any economic activity, must be done in a transparent manner," she said.

In the past few months, issues related to SEZs had come into prominence in some states leading to violence and tragic consequences, she said adding that land acquisition must also be done in a manner that fully protected the interests of farmers and of those livelihoods were dependent on the lands being acquired.

Keeping this in view, the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had only cleared those SEZs where fresh land acquisition was not required or where land acquisition had already taken place, she said.

"Our government is also working on a new rehabilitation and resettlement policy, a new resettlement and rehabilitation Bill and on amendments to the existing Land Acquisition Act. All these three are expected to be cleared very soon," Gandhi said.