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Growth with harmony8217;8217; is the slogan the Congress is likely to use on the cover of its 35-odd page manifesto. On the ground though,...

Growth with harmony8217;8217; is the slogan the Congress is likely to use on the cover of its 35-odd page manifesto. On the ground though, the abiding principle seems to be 8216;8216;growth with coalition8217;8217;. At least that is the lesson from the 8216;8216;internal survey8217;8217; the party says it conducted in the first week of February, covering 160 Lok Sabha constituencies and 34,000 voters.

Reported in dribs and drabs, the survey apparently gives the Congress marginal gains from the 114 seats it won in the 1999 elections. The party also insists the survey indicates 8216;8216;the BJP blitzkrieg is not happening8217;8217; and Sonia Gandhi8217;s party is 8216;8216;not being swept away8217;8217;.

A party leader, however, acknowledges the Congress is in trouble in almost every state where it is fighting alone. 8216;8216;In Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan8217;8217;, a party insider says, 8216;8216;our assessment is that the results will reflect the recent Assembly elections which the BJP won. In Uttaranchal, Assam and Punjab, where the party is ruling, it is tough.8217;8217; In Orissa, too, 8216;8216;we face a chief minister with an incorruptible image8217;8217;.

The survey, the party says, gave it cause for cheer in essentially four states. One, Tamil Nadu 8212; 8216;8216;The caste combination of the DMK-Congress-led front is better,8217;8217; says a party leader. An internal BJP assessment, too, says it is not going to be a cakewalk for the AIADMK-led alliance.

Two, Maharashtra 8212; 8216;8216;Our survey shows the BJP-Sena8217;s vote share has risen but the pre-poll alliance with the NCP should go in our favour,8217;8217; says a Congress worker.

Three, Andhra Pradesh 8212; 8216;8216;It is touch and go, but the alliance with the TRS in Telangana will help,8217;8217; say sources.

Four, Karnakata 8212; 8216;8216;We are holding here, though the BJP will make gains,8217;8217; is how one of the Congress8217; in-house psephologists puts it.

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The big question mark, of course, is UP. While the Congress insists the survey shows 8216;8216;that a slow rebuilding of the party has started8217;8217; in the state, it realises that this is only a euphemism for defeat.

The survey apparently shows 8216;8216;the NDA and Vajpayee as being particularly vulnerable among the poor and minorities8217;8217;. As a senior Congressman puts it, 8216;8216;In essence, the poorer you are the more likely you are to vote for the Congress.8217;8217;

Yet, the party8217;s manifesto, being drafted by a team led by Pranab Mukherjee, is expected to 8216;8216;shed its defensiveness on reforms8217;8217;. Far from presenting them as anti-poor, it will seek to extend them to, and marry them with, initiatives in 8216;8216;agriculture and employment8217;8217;. In short, growth with populism.

The party says it will conduct its second and final exhaustive pre-poll survey in the final week of March.