Cong to fight attacks against Sonia

NEW DELHI, MAY 15: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi put up a brave front today when she told her party's working committee that she will not b...

NEW DELHI, MAY 15: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi put up a brave front today when she told her party8217;s working committee that she will not be intimidated by the Sangh Parivar8217;s campaign over her Italian origin, but her party went on the defensive on the issue of alliances with J Jayalalitha and Laloo Prasad Yadav.

8220;I would like to make it quite clear that I am not intimidated by these attacks, just like my mother-in-law and Rajivji were not,8221; she told the CWC, which decided to meet the 8220;malicious propaganda8221; against her head-on.At the end of the meeting, the CWC adopted a resolution which took note of the 8220;slanderous personal disinformation campaign8221; against Sonia and decided to effectively 8220;nail the lies8221;.

While directing all its units to enlighten the public about this and 8220;unmask the real face of the BJP8221;, the party observed that the Sangh Parivar had started its old trick of misleading people through a vicious disinformation campaign on non-issues once again. The whole exercise, it said, wasaimed at diverting the people8217;s attention from the disastrous performance of the Vajpayee Government.

But even as the party seemed determined to fight out the 8220;foreigner8221; issue, it went on the defensive on the question of aligning with Jayalalitha8217;s AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and Laloo8217;s Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh, while briefing reporters after the three-and-a-half-hour meeting, took on an apologetic tone when asked if the party had given up its high moral ground in going for tie-ups with parties whose leaders were facing grave charges of corruption.

He said that the Congress would not overlook the issue of corruption while finalising tie-ups with parties like the AIADMK and RJD. He even went on to say that the talks on alliances were still at a preliminary stage, contrasting claims by party leader Mani Shanker Aiyer, who said in Chennai today that the deal with the AIADMK was through.

8220;The issue of corruption is not buried. The party will take all these aspects intoconsideration when the decision will be taken,8221; Singh said.