New Delhi, Aug 16: Congress leader A K Antony has absolved Rahul Gandhi of any responsibility for the party's debacle in Lok Sabha elections.
The investigation into the reasons for the defeat, conducted by a committee headed by Antony, has instead blamed organizational weakness and the "manipulation of media coverage by Narendra Modi".
Asked if Rahul had been apportioned the blame for the defeat, Antony told reporters, "This is all speculation. Nothing. Absolutely wrong. Those who are spreading these kinds of rumours want to weaken the party... such things are being spread by mischievous people who want to weaken the party."
The remark indicates that Rahul is in the clear. "The reasons for Congress defeat were something else," Antony said, adding that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul campaigned across the country.
The all-clear from the probe panel contrasts with the criticism that the Gandhi scion has been facing since Congress crashed to its worst-ever defeat, with partymen questioning his leadership skills and his ideas.
Rahul was the face of the Congress's 2014 campaign which was marked by his experiments like "primaries" — to choose candidates by voting by a section of workers. His hand in the selection of candidates was also final, with a core committee picked by him doing the job.
The Congress chief and Rahul, who came to the party's Akbar Road headquarters for flag hoisting, did not take questions.
Refusing to divulge details of his report, Antony said, "We are confident, just as we did in 1977, we will overcome this difficult phase as well. Congress will overcome this. We will be able to regain the loss, strengthen our party, strengthen our mass base again. We will revive under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul."
The Antony panel spoke to party leaders from states and arrived at its conclusions on their feedback.
Interestingly, the report talks about the alleged "manipulation of media coverage by BJP and the lacunae in the Congress campaign vis-a-vis the Modi blitzkrieg".
Senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said media was "one of the contributory factors" for the defeat as its entire focus was one person.
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