NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and Bihar veteran Shakeeluzzaman Ansari has accused central party managers of election mismanagement and irregularities, holding them responsible for the Mahagathbandhan “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”.
Ansari said there were serious problems in the way tickets were distributed while the election management committee never met to discuss strategy and rectify problems during the poll process, reasons he said alienated party workers in the state and discouraged them from owning up the campaign. A day after the poll results in Bihar, Ansari shot off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding that she send a probe panel to the state to enquire into the reasons behind the defeat which he said were very serious and also why the party was facing a political slide nationally. He named Bihar screening committee chairman Avinash Pande, Bihar in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil and special poll emissary Randeep Surjewala for the “mess” in the election.