Sonia pulls up Patnaik over nun’s rape

Apparently, the Congress president drew Patnaik’s attention to the repercussions of the spate of rapes and murders in the State on the party’s image.

Sonia also sent a message to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking him to send full details of the rape of an Australian woman in the State yesterday.

The current problem has emerged barely a few weeks after Sonia tackled the first round of trouble in the Orissa PCC when a group of ministers and the PCC president sought Patnaik’s ouster. PCC chief Hemananda Biswal and seven ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Basant Kumar Biswal led the campaign against Patnaik then and the duo has returned to 10, Janpath now with gusto.

Two days ago, Hemananda met Sonia and apparently presented a dismal picture of the State’s law and order situation and the “receding” chances of the Congress in the State elections, due in a year’s time. Neither the main culprits in the Anjana gangrape nor the main accused in the Staines’ killings have been arrested yet despite Sonia’s directive.

The Congress president is understood to be “surprised” that a veteran Chief Minister is unable to handle what appears to be a sustained campaign by his political opponents, both inside and outside the party. Patnaik is believed to have attributed motives to dissident ministers in his Cabinet for joining hands with the BJP-BJD combine to oust him.

The Staines’ murders, Patnaik has insisted, were the result of the RSS’ gameplan to target states ruled by the Congress in an attempt to influence public opinion against the party. The Congress president is understood to have said that this should have been countered effectively before the issue went out of hand.

Over the past few days, 10, Janpath has been busy with the situation at the Centre. Sonia has asked colleagues to be ready to handle the possibility of the Congress either forming a Government or helping form one should the Vajpayee Government fall.

She reiterated this in Karnataka today saying her party may have to accept the responsibility thrust on it by the possible fall of the Union Government which looks probable following the displeasure aired by almost all constituents of the coalition. It is in this scenario that she was disturbed by the news of the nun’s rape near Baripada, Orissa, the same place where Staines was murdered.

Time, it appears, is running out for the Orissa Chief Minister whose friends have told him to act fast and save the situation. But in Delhi, Sonia has set a deadline for the party’s overhaul by elections to various panels in the organisation.

August 31 is the deadline for completing elections to the Congress units at the block, district, pradesh and AICC levels. Sonia’s election as party president is also to be completed formally. The membership drive for this purpose is to end by May 31.

Meanwhile, the Congress today objected to the idea that it join hands with the BJP to counter “populism” and help economic reforms in the country. Party spokesperson Ajit Jogi said though the Congress was unequivocally committed to reforms, it did not imply that it would support all the actions, commissions and omissions of the BJP-led coalition.

The party is, at the same time, going ahead with a three-day brainstorming camp for the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee in Hardwar beginning February 7. Sonia is slated to address about 300 delegates on the second day of the camp, organised on the lines of last September’s Pachmarhi camp.