Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary, on Tuesday put up a brave face ,bearded and in a white kurta pyjama, delivered a simple and honest analysis of his party's disastrous performance and his own role in Uttar Pradesh. "I led the campaign, so it is my responsibility," he said, adding that the result "is a good lesson for me." Showing good assertion Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today told the media he would be taking complete responsibility for the party's poor performance in Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul, who had led the Congress’ campaign in Uttar Pradesh, said, “First of all, I congratulate Mulayam Singhji and Akhileshji, people of Uttar Pradesh supported them.” "The mood (in UP) was for the Samajwadi Party," he conceded. His sister, Priyanka, who had campaigned for him, hugged him after his remarks.

His admission of failure over-rode embarrassingly sycophantic comments from his party all morning, praising Mr Gandhi for turning the Congress into a party to be taken seriously once again in the Gandhis' home state."The job of a star campaigner," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said of Mr Gandhi, "is to draw masses and spell out the party ideology."

“I had promised the people of UP that I will continue to be seen in the villages and cities of the state… with the farmers, with the poor… my work will continue. I will continue to work for UP,” he added.

“I will try to get the Congress stand up again in UP and (ensure) that we win one day,” Rahul said with a pause.

On the reasons behind the party’s poor performance, Rahul said, “Organisationally we are not where we should be in UP and generally there was a mood in favour of the Samajwadi Party, which is pretty apparent.”

He further opined that the fundamentals of Congress in UP are weak, saying, “We have to get the fundamentals correct. Yes there has been improvement from 2007 but we will have to take it forward.”

“We haven’t done well in the whole of UP; I view my work as working for the people of this country. I will continue to do that,” Rahul said, adding, “I expect victories along the way and I expect defeat too.”

Mr Gandhi's campaign may not have been effective, but it did not lack effort. In 48 days, he held 211 rallies. He was seen often walking from one village to another, talking to farmers about their concerns, spending nights at the homes of Dalits. Mayawati, who was voted out as chief minister today, attacked him for turning these visits into photo ops.

Mr Gandhi said the criticism would not faze him. What did not work was his heavy-handed pitch to the state's Muslims, who make up 18% of the population. Mr Gandhi focused on a new minority quota that would reserve government jobs and seats in colleges for backward Muslim castes. He was accused of communalizing politics, but remained undeterred. His agenda was adopted clumsily by leaders like Salman Khurshid, who defied election guidelines to invoke the quota at rallies in Muslim constituencies. The hard-sell did not work among Muslims, who opted for the Samajwadi Party; the BJP believes it also benefited from Mr Gandhi's minority politics.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna, speaking to the media in Lucknow, said that the state leadership takes the blame for the Congress's debacle and that this loss is not a reflection of Rahul Gandhi's performance, who brilliantly led the Congress campaign in the state. She said she was "hugely disappointed" and that the onus for the defeat lay with the state unit.

"Avishvas Rahul par nahin hai (This distrust is not towards Rahul)," Joshi told reporters as the votes were counted for the staggered elections.

Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 65 years of independence, had campaigned tirelessly to revive his centre-left party in a politically crucial state where it has not held power for 22 years.

The campaign, which thrust him into the rough and tumble of the state's politics, where he even slept in villagers' huts, was seen as a test of his fitness to take over from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after general elections due in 2014.

Instead, the leftist Samajwadi Party (SP) looked set to win the largest number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, a politically important state that with 200 million people has a larger population than Brazil.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi defended Gandhi's electioneering despite the disappointing results.

"Not even Rahul Gandhi's worst enemies, political or otherwise, suggest that his leadership was lacking. He was outstanding," he said. "He's gone to every nook and cranny, he's provided the spirit, the euphoria, the leadership - if it doesn't translate, then it doesn't translate.