Dwarka (Gujarat), June 9: All-India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary and MP Rajiv Shukla has said that the Congress would launch next year's general election campaign from Gujarat.

At the end of a two-day introspection session of the party's Gujarat unit on Sunday, he said the Congress would begin its campaign from Dwarka.

"The Congress is launching its winning mission for general elections from Dwarka. We will expose the State Government for taking all the credit of the development work being done in the state with federal funds," said Shukla.

The meeting was held in Gujarat to work out strategy for the 2009 general elections.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning power in Karnataka, the ruling Congress party's chances of holding onto national office are appear to be dim.

The BJP won an election in the "silicon valley" last month, performing better than many analysts expected by nearly clinching an outright majority in what for decades was a Congress stronghold.

The win has given the BJP momentum going into a general election expected within a year.

But Shukla said he did not consider loss in Karnataka as a big setback for the party as it got more vote share than the BJP.

"There will not be any such problem in general elections because we got one and a half percent vote where more than the BJP in Karnataka, but we got less seats. I personally don't consider a big defeat in Karnataka as people supported us," he said.

BJP won 110 seats out of 224 while the Congress bagged 80 and the JD-S 28 in the Assembly polls concluded last month. (ANI)