NEW DELHI: Congressmen are blaming the Manmohan Singh government for the electoral debacle, calling it a bad product that no campaigning or strategy could have salvaged.Former I&B minister Manish Tewari said, "If objective reality is unfavourable, you cannot spin it beyond a point."The comment sought to debunk the argument that the electoral debacle was rooted in UPA-2's failure at communicating its work with the people. Senior managers and party leaders, for the first time after the defeat, pinned the blame on the government, saying there was little to win over the voters."The CAG report on 2G and the zero loss theory, the open factional firing between Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram, clashes in the party over Telangana and home minister's naxal policy, the mishandling of the Anna Hazare agitation and the Baba Ramdev issue; all these over a period of time made UPA look adrift and limp. Who would have voted for such a regime," a senior AICC general secretary said.Though the immediate reaction after the defeat had laid the blame on poor campaign and planning, there are growing voices that the government had failed on all fronts, topped by corruption and inflation.While Congressmen are blaming the party leadership for not reining in the sliding government, they are unanimous that UPA-2 lost the war of perception because it came across as a disjointed lot that was not interested in welfare."It took the Prime Minister ten days to address the people on the Nirbhaya rape-murder issue despite the country having been jammed with protests and agitations," a senior leader said.An AICC general secretary asked where was Rahul Gandhi's advice in all these failures of the government, advancing the argument that seeks to inoculate the heir apparent from criticism that has seen a sudden rise lately.With the scale of defeat sinking in, there is a belated realization in Congress that the listless government, beset with upmanship among ministers and policy hurdles, made the party a villain among the voters. The huge mandate for BJP led by Narendra Modi has Congressmen concede that the BJP mascot gained by positioning himself as being opposite of Manmohan Singh – focused, tough and authoritative and promising results.Among the strategists, the belief is that Congress lost a lot by antagonizing the Industry and the middle-classes, an issue rooted in government's zealousness on environment, poor choice of ministers and the excessive focus on populism."May be, the party was responsible for populist schemes but environment clearances should have been taken care of," a senior leader said.The delays in environmental clearances and piling projects single-handedly sent the corporates into the waiting lap of BJP, headed by an industry-friendly Modi.Kodikkunil Suresh, among the few MPs to return to parliament, accused UPA ministers of arrogance. "When we pointed out (faults in governance), ministers were not ready to listen to us. They were living at the height of power. They only went by what bureaucrats told them."