Polls: Cong papers over cracks

AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Vayalar Ravi’s solution to a non-performing chief minister, an eroding party base and a...

AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Vayalar Ravi’s solution to a non-performing chief minister, an eroding party base and angry party workers comprises four public meetings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and a three-day 24-hour training camp for senior partymen at an exotic locale, which will be a toss between Karla and Mahabaleshwar.

Armed with this mantra and supported by his two lieutenants — former-foes-now-friends Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Govindrao Adik — Ravi is gearing up for the Assembly and general elections slated for 2004.

Vora backs Jogi against
Hindutva, V C Shukla

Raipur: With the BJP making it clear that Hindutva is going to be its agenda for the coming Assembly polls, the Chhattisgarh Congress today indicated that its campaign will rest on Ajit Jogi’s performance as CM and the party’s ‘‘commitment to secularism’’.

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AICC treasurer Motilal Vora said the BJP was utterly mistaken to believe the Hindutva card would pay off in Congress-ruled states going to the polls this year. ‘‘Talk about local issues, why divert people’s attentions?’’ he challenged the party.

According to him, the BJP’s Gujarat formula of creating an atmosphere of terror will not work in Chhattisgarh or other states as the Congress would not allow communal forces to raise their heads. Also, he said, performance wise, the Congress was on a very strong footing in the states going to polls. Vora also tried to play down the V.C. Shukla factor, which may prove to be the real threat to the party.

‘‘Shukla, being a senior Congress leader, will not do anything that jeopardises party interests.’’ However, with Shukla unfolding his plan only this morning to field his own candidates in the elections, it remains to be seen how true Vora’s predictions turn out to be.

Shukla, who has formed the Chhattisgarh Sangarh Parishad, today embarked on a five-day tour of Bastar. CM Ajit Jogi, who has till now been avoiding a direct confrontation with Shukla, has decided to hold a Cabinet meeting in Bastar on January 7 and 8. Meanwhile, BJP leader Ramesh Bais today said here the party will make conversions an issue during the Assembly polls in the state. –Ashwani Sharma

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Stumbling more than once during the press conference which followed the extended general body meeting of the MPCC here today, Ravi stressed that unity between Deshmukh and Adik is paramount to the party if it has to win any elections in future.

Emphasising that any alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party in future polls will be more out of compulsion rather than free will, Ravi said: ‘‘An offer is an extension of what exists. In this case, we already have a coalition and the benefit of this arrangement is to everyone’s liking. We are not ruling out any alliance in the future as it will be a move to keep out the communal forces.’’

Though the general body meeting was held to iron out differences between Deshmukh and Adik and take stock of their performance as captains, Ravi sought to underplay the purpose. ‘‘The meeting was called to draft the party’s future programmes and restructure the committees from the village level onwards. If the task is not completed within the next three months, the office-bearers of that particular district will be sacked,’’ he said.

A resolution to implement four time-bound programmes was also passed at the meeting. These include training camp for party workers, Sonia’s tour of Konkan, Vidharbha, Marathawada and western Maharashtra, a tour of 25 districts by Deshmukh along with senior state and AICC leaders and the establishment of Congress committees from the gram level onwards.

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Ravi has also issued directives to all district committee presidents to submit reports on the performance of MLAs and ministers in the next three months. ‘‘On the basis of the ministers’ performance, we will decide if tickets have to be given to them for the polls.’’

It may be recalled that Ravi had issued similar directives to the district presidents in June last year. However, to date, not a single district president has submitted such a report. ‘‘I must admit they have not taken the task seriously. I have not received the reports probably because I have not sent them the prescribed complaint format,’’ said Ravi.

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