Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to embark on an exercise on Monday to find out reasons for the Gujarat debacle and take corrective steps. 

Gandhi is likely to meet senior leaders to go into the issue even as a meeting of party leaders has been convened to deliberate on the matter and they are expected to give their report to the Congress President.

A day after the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party came back to power, Congress leaders Motilal Vora and All-India Congress Committee general secretary B K Hariprasad will also interact with the state Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bharatsinh Solanki and Gujarat Congress Legislature Party leader Arjun Modwadia.

'Congress wasn't in the picture!'

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh sought to deflect criticism of the central leadership by insisting that the local leadership was responsible for the poll outcome.

He said the state elections are fought by the local leadership and the polls revolved around state-specific issues.

B K Hariprasad has already taken responsibility for the defeat and has said there were organisational weaknesses in the party in the western state that need to be plugged. A debate has already begun whether Modi's impressive show was due to the chief minister exploiting the 'tactical mistake' of Gandhi's 'liars and merchants of death' remarks.

Union minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, a former BJP leader and one of the key campaigners of the Congress, has said the saffron outfit's 'excessive reaction' to the remarks did benefit the party as Modi raked up the Sohrabuddin encounter issue like he did the 'Mian Musharraf' plank in 2002.

Vaghela could also be present during Monday's deliberations as well as political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel, who hails from Gujarat.

Coverage: Gujarat Elections, 2007