Cong awaits Sonia magic8217; again

During the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls in 1998, A B Vajpayee had addressed a large rally at the historic Kasturchand Park here after which the Sangh Parivar had busied itself comparing the size of the crowd to those attracted earlier by Indira Gandhi, Bal Thackeray and once by Sharad Joshi.

Four days later came Sonia and the sprawling ground, with an estimated capacity of more than one lakh, was bursting at its seams. SeniorRSS and BJP leaders went into a huddle. Publicly, they shrugged it off. Sonia was here for the first time and it was curiosity rather than support for the Congress that had drawn the crowds, they argued.

Even Congress leaders conceded that the sea of spectators would not necessarily turn into a flood of votes. The Congress appeared to be down and out and its candidate, Vilas Muttemwar, who had just shifted from the constituency of Chimur, lacked support even from party workers here.

The outcome: Vilas Muttemwar of the Congress beat Ramesh Mantri of the BJP by more than 1.63 lakh votes. The Congress-RPI alliance swept all 11 Lok Sabha seats of Vidarbha.

However, a year-and-a-half later, people here were engulfed by a sense of deja vu. Like last time, exactly four days separated Vajpayee and Sonia at the Kasturchand Park. Despite a nagging drizzle, the Vajpayee charm attracted a huge crowd. Despite Vajpayee, Sonia attracted an even bigger gathering.

However, apart from the timing, the venue and thefaces, everything else has changed during this period.

Vajpayee is the Prime Minister boasting of a war victory and Sonia an Italian-born struggling to prove her Indianness. The Congress has been torn apart by Sharad Pawar and the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra claims to have created employment for 21 lakh people.

Advantage BJP?

8220;Not by a long shot,8221; counters a former Congress MLA. 8220;They said this last time too. Sonia is not a wave, she8217;s just a breeze, they said. What happened? They lost all 11 seats.8221; The Congress argument is that while Sonia8217;s speech might not have straightaway converted the lakh or so at her meeting into votes for the Congress, the large gathering built the right mahaul atmosphere.

It jerked the slumbering Congress worker into action. The presence of such a mammoth crowd at her rally sent the signal that Muttemwar was very much in the race and the Congress was alive and kicking. Once this indication goes out, the workers join the campaign on their own.Suddenly everyone wants to be seen working for the party.

This time, the Congress needs that dose of unconditional enthusiasm more than ever before. The Sonia dose8217; has been there in plenty for Congress workers in Vidarbha this time. No Congress president before her has attended rallies in eight out of the 11 Lok Sabha segments in a single election.

The party cannot ignore the fact that while the Sonia factor might have motivated the workers in 1998, its success also due to a united Congress and a united RPI coming together thanks to Sharad Pawar.

When it comes to leaders, Pawar8217;s NCP boasts of a whole array of past and present MPs and MLAs. In that respect the Congress in Vidarbha appears rather debilitated.

But when it comes to the common man, Sonia8217;s public meetings have shown that the Congress can still call itself a mass-based party in Vidarbha.

As for the outcome, September 5 will tell.