New Delhi, Nov. 28 -- In the first extensive review of the party's poor performance in the Bihar election, Congress' state leaders flagged several issues as key reasons for the defeat, including late decision on seat pact between partners, promise of Rs.10,000 cash transfer to women and the NDA denting some of the traditional areas of the Mahagathbandhan. The marathon meeting at the Congress headquarters of Indira Bhavan, had party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and general secretary organisation KC Venugopal interacting with 70 leaders - including the party candidates, in a batch of 10 leaders each. All MPs from Bihar were also called for the meeting. "The meeting was called to ascertain the reasons for the defeat. Earlier, leaders would simply overlook the poll defeat but this time we met the candidates," said a senior Congress leader present in the meeting. According to functionaries, the central leadership wanted to know if there was infighting, lack of funds or coordination issues behind the debacle. Functionaries claimed that the Rs.10,000 loan to women was a game changer and led to NDA's victory. Some leaders said that even in minority areas - traditional votebanks of the Mahagathbandhan - the NDA made inroads, leading to further losses. "Some also pointed out that the Congress candidates could retain their shares but lost by big margins, indicating some foul play or vote chori," said a leader present in the meeting. Other issues were random seats selection, late disbursement of funds, lack of narratives to counter NDA's promises and indifference among cadres....