The Indian Express spoke to Congress star campaigner for the Karnataka assembly elections and former Chief Minister S M Krishna after the verdict. Excerpts from a candid and exclusive conversation:

•To what do you attribute the Congress party’s defeat in the 2008 assembly elections?

The Congress bungled in the selection of candidates and an election strategy to get the party to a position of power in the State.

•What kind of bungling?

Well, the projection of leaders was not done in a manner that attracted the voters.

•Do you mean a chief ministerial candidate?

Let us just say State level leaders were not projected clearly.

•About the selection of candidates?

Every party works out a study well before the onset of the elections, but one could find a number of missing links in the Congress party’s strategy.

•What kind of missing links?

The selection of candidates, for one. The selection was done in a manner that was totally isolating the local elements in the election process. See, every constituency has a history of its own, perhaps, we floundered in trying to connect to that history. Also, those who were and are aware of these issues were not taken into confidence in the decision-making process.

•Do you mean the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)? Was there a difference of opinion between the KPCC and the High Command in Delhi?

The Congress leadership is KPCC in the state. But I will only say that whoever mattered the most were not taken into confidence.

... contd.