Poll outcome will be solid for Congress: Rahul

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday said the results of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls would be “solid” for his party. He also said he was not obsessed with the prime minister’s job.

Gandhi, on the last day of campaigning for the first of the seven-phased polls due to be begin Wednesday, however, said he was not concerned about winning or losing the assembly elections that has very high stakes for the Congress.

“Frankly, I am not concerned about what the results are,” Gandhi told reporters here.

Asked if that meant conceding defeat, Gandhi said: “I am not conceding defeat, I am conceding victory. Elections results for the Congress will be solid.”

“People are looking up to the Congress seriously. This is what people told us. The common man in Uttar Pradesh is telling me they have been fooled for the last 22 years.”

“Mission 2012 is your (media) coined term. It is not mine,” the Congress leader replied when he was asked if his Mission 2012 would be successful.

He also dismissed speculation that he was in the race for prime ministership.

“Rahul Gandhi’s obsession is not to be PM. Rahul Gandhi’s obsession is to work for the people,” hesaid.

“My mission is to change UP, bring development to UP,” he said.

“You will see Rahul Gandhi in villages, in slums, in agricultural fields.”

He said the Congress wants to change the fate of the people and accused previous governments of misrule in the most populous Indian state where upcoming elections are being seen as make or break for major political parties.

“What is going on in UP (Uttar Pradesh) for the last 22 years is a crime, nothing less than that. That needs to be changed. It is our duty to not accept the misrule and the type of games being played with the people of this state.”

The Congress leader said he was confident that Uttar Pradesh had the energy to transform itself. “In the past few months I have learnt, probably, what I learnt in last seven years. I have learnt what it means to be passionately believe in an idea.”

“I have realised the power of the people of the state. I have realised that this state can stand on its feet very soon,” he said.

Without naming him, the Gandhi scion hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani saying some senior politicians were obsessed with prime ministership.