NEW DELHI, Nov 20: The Congress, suffering from the syndrome all parties who lend support to the government from outside go through after a while, appears to have decided that it has got hold of a poll issue which is not likely to come again with ease. All its actions today showed that it is itching for an election.Party leaders feel that this is a now-or-never moment and the Rajiv assassination will wash their sins of the last year and skirt around an uncomfortable issue like corruption which has dominated many an election. The party, they feel, will not be able to build up the momentum it has managed to do on the Jain Commission's report. The Midas touch is to be provided by Sonia Gandhi who party MPs believe will campaign for the Congress this time. They expect her to add at least 50-60 seats to the party's existing tally, catapulting it to the single largest party status so that it can head a coalition government with other like-minded parties. It is this confidence which has helped the Congress MPs overcome their poll paranoia and close ranks. For many months now they have been chafing against the ``neither Government nor Opposition'' status of the party which was hastening its decline.Though Sonia Gandhi has not said anything about campaigning for the Congress and sources close to 10, Janpath say she has made no promise to anybody, it is widely believed that she will now canvass for the party. She is believed to have told Sitaram Kesri and other senior party leader who called on her recently is that she wanted justice. When they asked her what they should do, she is believed to have said that it was for the Congress to decide what it should do about the assassination of its leader.But her primary membership of the Congress, her presence at the Calcutta AICC and the issue itself of Rajiv's assassination have led Congressmen to conclude that she will jump into active politics this time.At any rate, even if she goes and addresses a few meetings, it would do the trick,they feel,though the question of her security will pose problems for her. If she cancelled her programme at the AICC headquarters yesterday because the security cordon was broken, it would be that much more difficult for her at election rallies.Party hawks ,led by Arjun Singh with M L Fotedar playing a behind the scenes role, are planning to project her as the leader of the Congress. This they feel would be enough to electrify the atmosphere in the country,irrespective of the number of meetings she addresses.Sonia Gandhi will no doubt attract crowds and her entry into politics may stem the decline of the party which has been taking place in successive elections. The Congress did not do as well as the BJP in in 1996 in the number of seats it won because unlike the BJP which has concentrated following in certain states, its votebank is spread all over the country. Moreover,the reasons for the Congress' decline have as much to do with the fragmentation of Indian politics around castes and communities as with the absence of a charismatic leader.For the Congress' tally had come down from an impressive 400 plus to less than 200 even while Rajiv Gandhi was alive.But Congress leaders, besides using the Jain Commission report either to do down Kesri or do themselves up, feel that things would get progressively worse for for them. And that this is as good as it will go. They feel they will improve in the southern and the eastern states and in Madhya Pradesh.
