‘The country is in the safe hands of Dr Singh’

According to party sources, having completed the formality of meeting the President this evening Sonia Gandhi and Singh will ‘‘work closely’’ over the next two days to finalise the shape of the new government to be sworn in on May 22.

While alliance partners will also be consulted and be given some key portfolios, the Congress will appoint around 38 ministers of its own, sources said. All of them may not be sworn in at the first stage, but the party leadership was looking for ‘‘a mix of experience and youth’’ while distributing the portfolios.

But Sonia Gandhi’s decision to remain party boss and set about the task of reviving the Congress, particularly in the Hindi belt, means that she will need “a talented team” to assist her here as well.

While heavyweights such as Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Natwar Singh, Janardhan Reddy et al as well as some of the “fresh faces” are slated to get into government, there is a pool of “trusted” MPs who may be drafted as party general secretaries instead.

Close Sonia aides such as Ahmad Patel and Ambika Soni are likely to remain in the party while Ghulam Nabi Azad, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kamal Nath, Gurudas Kamat, Vilas Muttemwar and Shankersinh Vaghela belong to the what is termed “mixed category”—ie Sonia could decide to send them to government or keep them in the “party building team.”

Congress sources also dismissed apprehensions that the new arrangment could lead to the development of “dual centres of power” in the party. In the past even when the post of Congress president and prime minister was not synonymous, the prime minister was always supreme. In earlier times, regional party bosses such as Kamraj or Atulya Ghosh or S.K. Patil enjoyed a lot of clout but there was no comparable power centre at the national level. Most partymen were certain that the new situation would cause little tension because of the unique relationship of trust between Singh and Gandhi.

As one senior Congress leader put it: “Dr Singh is a political non-player with no base of his own. He is an excellent administrator and policy maker. When the nominee of the Congress president is a non-player it is easy to work with him.”

Sonia Gandhi, on her part, is not a “control freak”, AICC leaders said, pointing to the way she handled Congress chief ministers in the past five years. “There were manifesto implementation committees, coordination committees, chief ministers’ conclaves on development and governance, but she never interfered in the day-today functioning of the governments.”

Congressmen expect that once the government is set on course, Sonia Gandhi may give “broad directions” from time to time but give a free hand to Singh to run the government.

There is less chance of her beong the ‘‘remote control’’ since Singh will be heading a coalition government and would have to take into account the views of powerful allies. Congressmen want Sonia Gandhi to be the chairperson of the proposed Coordination Committee of the United Progressive Alliance as well.

Sonia Gandhi’s real challenge will be to revive the party. Notwithstanding the frenzied protests by party workers outside 10 Janpath throughout the day, most party leaders were upbeat about it.

The widespread feeling was that Sonia’s decision has “enhanced her stature hugely” and will make it that much easier for the party to revive its base. It is only a matter of time before breakway Congress groups such as the NCP (whose raison de etre has vanished with Sonia’s decision) and Trinamul Congress—or at least their rank and file workers—return to the Congress, they confidently said.