It seems that celebration time for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is over as the party high-command has decided to hold the state co-ordination committee meeting in the next fortnight to discuss reasons for the loss in important seats like Jhansi, Padrauna, Powayan during the bypolls.

The decision to hold the meeting came after senior state leaders met party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Tuesday. Rahul will also be attend the co-ordination committee meeting.

During Tuesday’s meeting with Sonia, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi was accompanied by Shyam Kishore Shukla, the lone Assembly seat winner during the by-election.

Later in the day, Congress general secretary in charge of UP, Digvijay Singh, accompanied by Joshi and other leaders — including Raj Babbar and Pramod Tiwari — met Rahul.

While both Sonia and Rahul congratulated the leaders for party’s win in Firozabad Lok Sabha and Lucknow West Assembly seats, they also enquired about the reasons for the defeat of the party candidates in 10 of the 11 Assembly seats, including Jhansi and Padrauna — vacated by Union ministers. The major concern for the party is the defeat in Jhansi, where is lost around 38 per cent of the voteshare.

During the meeting, Rahul specifically asked the leaders to focus for the 2012 Assembly elections in the state.

“Yes, both of them were a bit concerned about the loss on other seats. We have told them that the scene would have been different if there were central forces,” said Joshi.

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