NEW DELHI, JULY 11: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has decided to continue with her policy of fiercely attacking the BJP government for its ``total failure'' in handling the Kargil situation. She is understood to have said that a large number of innocent jawans had to lay down their lives as the political leadership failed to read Pakistan's designs.Sonia expressed these views at a close-door meeting of party's strategy committee at her residence. The meeting had been called by Sonia Gandhi after discordant voices emerged in the party over its Kargil policy. Arjun Singh, K Natwar Singh, Ahmad Patel, Rajesh Pilot and Pranab Mukherjee were among those who attended the meeting. Some senior leaders including Jitendra Prasada, Rajesh Pilot, Madhavrao Scindia had expressed their reservations over party's continued attack on the government ever since the crisis surfaced in Kargil.They felt that the ``party is not reading correctly the mood of the nation on Kargil'' and would gradually get isolated if thestance is not corrected in time. They were of the view that the party should express its solidarity with the government in resolving the issue.They were not convinced by the argument forwarded by Arjun Singh and Natwar Singh that the country would not forgive the BJP for the killings of hundreds of jawans in Kargil. due to the failure of the bus ride, intelligence failure or of any other agency.Though none of these Working Committee members have gone public opposing the party's hawkish line on Kargil, they have been holding the view that the party's constant nit-picking is not going down well with the people. Even if there was a failure during the earlier period, the Congress should wait for the war to come to come an end.Arjun Singh was of the view that media had been completely ``won over'' by the BJP and had turned against the Congress. The complete black out by the media of Sonia Gandhi flagging off relief material loaded in 15 trucks and valued at Rs 50 lakhs was enough to prove the point.Noone told Sonia that the news was blacked out by the photo journalists because they were refused entry inside 10 Janpath and Sonia did not come out of her house to flag off the trucks. Only one truck was allowed inside the drive way and two photo journalists were allowed entry. Obviously, the rest of the media was not happy and this resulted in the fiasco. The meeting ended with Sonia Gandhi firmly telling the members that all efforts must be made to ``expose'' the BJP. She maintained this stance at the all-party meeting today where she did not welcome explicitly the withdrawal by the Pakistan army. Referring to the Clinton-Sharif joint statement she cautioned the government to ensure that it may not lead to a third party intervention.Some of the party leaders felt that had the Congress lent its support to the government, it could have shared the achievement of ``historic withdrawal'' by Pakistan with the people. The issue of internationalising the Kashmir issue is unlikely to play a major role during theelections as talks would begin only after the polls are over on October 1, they feel.
