A Congress leader on Tuesday lamented that the party failed to plan for the Karnataka Assembly election and educate the people about the government's welfare schemes.

"The party and its leaders, both in Bengaluru and Delhi, should have woken up much earlier and planned much better for the election to educate the people of the state about the Congress government's welfare schemes," Congress state unit Vice President B K Chandrashekar told IANS here.

"The good economic policies of the government weren't communicated effectively to the people of Karnataka." he added.

Chandrashekar said the party's set-up was a reason for its defeat in the state election that took place on Saturday. The votes were counted on Tuesday.

"We should have strategized at least two-three years ahead of the elections by setting up a think tank in order to counter (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's charm," Chandrashekar said.

"The Congress failed in communicating to the people of the state that the politics of communalism and nationalism of the BJP must be rejected." The Congress now needs a structural reconstruction, he added.