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Journalism of Courage
Election results, followed by Islamabad success. As Atal Behari Vajpayee walks on air, Sonia Gandhi may soon hit the road.
Realising that the coming general poll may be a Vajpayee vs Sonia affair, the Congress is thinking of packaging the Congress chief as an ‘‘energetic’’ leader who can reach people in villages and towns. One of the proposals the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting considered today was Sonia as well as other leaders travelling extensively by road, beginning with Uttar Pradesh.
The other need, the party admitted, was to keep ‘‘all doors open’’ to any ‘‘secular’’ party, including Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Kalyan Singh’s RKP—both of which are flirting with the BJP—and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
A committee, chaired by Sonia, has been set up to finalise alliances by the end of January at ‘‘state, multi-state, regional and sub-regional’’ levels.
A team of leaders would identify issues to take on the NDA with, ‘‘like its India Shining campaign and the 8-per cent growth rate (for just one quarter, the party emphasised)’’. The CWC also decided to have a ‘‘constituency-wise’’ campaign, based on booth-wise assessment done by the candidates themselves.
On the issue of alliances, the Congress said it is already in touch with the BSP in UP, the RJD in Bihar, the JMM in Jharkhand, the PDP in J-K and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Andhra Pradesh.
Senior party leader Salmaan Khursheed said a ‘‘meaningful dialogue’’ with the RKP is entirely possible, though the party had earlier expressed apprehensions about Kalyan’s role in the Babri Masjid demolition. ‘‘Kalyan Singh has worked fairly and sincerely with Mulayam Singh against the menace of the BJP. We must take him seriously in the line-up of parties against the BJP,’’ Khursheed said.
Having missed a deadline set by the NCP to decide its partners once, the Congress is fielding Sonia herself to talk to Pawar. Speaking after the CWC meeting, the Congress chief confirmed this. Asked if sewing up a winning coalition was proving difficult, Sonia remarked: ‘‘Zindagi mein mushkilen hamesha hain. Hum unka samna kar rahein hain (Life always poses difficulties but we are dealing with them).’’
According to senior party leaders, talks with the Trinamool Congress may also materialise soon, subject to Mamata distancing her party from the NDA. Tamil Nadu will see action as early as tomorrow, when senior leader Manmohan Singh leaves for Chennai to hold talks with M. Karunanidhi.
Beginning the CWC meeting, Sonia is learnt to have stressed the importance to work with ‘‘a sense of discipline’’ and asked leaders to remember that ‘‘the party came first’’. The advice came amid speculation that an organisational reshuffle would follow the debacle in the recent assembly polls.
A decision was taken today to analyse ‘‘reasons for the poor performance in the SC/ST constituencies’’. On the basis of the recommendations of the Pranab Mukherjee Committee report on the rout, the Congress also decided to identify a select group of leaders who will stay out of the fray and ‘‘manage’’ elections for each state, including candidate-selection, dissidence and rebels.
