‘People will repulse the attack on Smt Gandhi at the next LS elections’

Is it rational on the Congress’s part to team up with Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar just to keep BJP out?— Vishwanath Sethuraman

THE Congress is, even today, the single biggest national party in the country. Yet, it has to enlist the co-operation of other parties in some states to combat the BJP. The choice of political allies is inescapably contextual and relative. As for the improvement of living conditions in Bihar, the record of the BJP’s performance in states like Gujarat does not warrant comparison. I’m afraid you will have to wait for the Congress government, at least in New Delhi, if not in Patna, to hope for better administration.

What could have provoked Jayalalithaa into attacking Sonia Gandhi?— Babu Ezhumavil

THERE is no political provocation or occasion for the sudden attack on Smt Sonia Gandhi by Ms Jayalalithaa. Her compulsions are purely personal. She is driven by only one consideration—liberation from major criminal cases which have the potential of exterminating her career. Her apparent calculation is that she has to endear herself to the BJP leadership and the only way to do it is to mount a malignant attack on Smt Sonia Gandhi.

How do you plan to overcome the new attacks on Sonia Gandhi? Do you think it’s a plan engineered by the BJP to split the party by raking up the foreigner’s issue?— Ram Reddy

PEOPLE of all strata are getting irresistibly drawn to the Congress as her party’s leadership is facilitating good governance in 14 states. People will decisively repulse the attack on Smt Sonia Gandhi at the next Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress party has been split-proof since 1978 and is much more cohesive than the so-called cadre-based BJP. The BJP-led government has been inundated by a spate of scandals ranging from the Tehelka expose, the petrol pump allotments to land allotments in New Delhi. But people are too wise to bite this bait.

Why doesn’t the Congress take action against senior leaders and dissidents like K Karunakaran?— Suresh

YOUR question is based on the disputable assumption that a senior leader like Shri K karunakaran is indulging in indiscipline. As the Congress party has many stalwarts, it would be necessary to provide for expression of independent opinion within the larger framework of ideological unity.

How do you compare your liberalisation and disinvestment policies with that being followed by the NDA Government?

THE liberalisation and disinvestment policy started in 1991 didn’t focus on privatisation. It aimed at more autonomy to PSUs and making them more accountable. The Congress in 1991 was seeking to utilise disinvestment proceeds for investing in the social sector or to retire debt. In contrast, the NDA government is using the sale proceeds for current consumption. The first priority of the Congress government in 2004 will be given to the task of providing a healing touch to society, which is being rent asunder by a planned religious divide.