New Delhi: Expressing "deep disappointment" over her party's reverses in the Assembly elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today (Dec 4, 2003) said the party would have "to pull up its socks" for the big electoral battle ahead.

Asserting that the party has "not lost hope", Gandhi told reporters that "people expected much more from us". Obviously, "we could not perform to their expectations".

Though the party was happy with the results in Delhi, the Congress president attributed the reverses in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh partly to anti-incumbency.

However, she said the outcome in Rajasthan was "more disappointing and unexpected".

"In Rajasthan there were five years of terrible drought. Still, we did work hard for the people, the results have been shocking for us," she told reporters at the Navy Day reception.

The results in Delhi were a shot in the arm, but "we were expecting to win in more States", she said, adding the party would have to pull up its socks and do more to be successful in the electoral battles to come.

PTI