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Journalism of Courage
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son,party general secretary Rahul Gandhi,will fly down to Chandigarh with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to watch the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal in Mohali,signaling the unambiguous political backing to Singhs latest initiative to try and turn around relations with Islamabad.
To be seated in the special VVIP enclosure along with the Prime Minister and the Pakistani delegation,top Congress sources on Tuesday said Sonia and Rahuls presence cannot but be seen in the context of the government and the party being one on the politically sensitive issue of India-Pak relations.
Suggestions of a crack between the party and the government on the issue had first come in the wake of the July 16,2009 Sharm-al-Sheikh joint statement,when many in the Congress felt that the document left room for suspicion that New Delhi had relaxed conditions on not resuming dialogue process until Pakistan had taken steps to bring 26/11 perpetrators to book. There had also been unease over the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement.
However,Sonia resolutely refused to give credence to such reports and firmly put an end to the controversy by telling critics at a CPP meeting that there should be no confusion or misunderstanding on the matter among them and that she backed the Prime Minister totally on the issue. In subsequent meetings,the Congress president made it clear that the Prime Minister had her complete trust. Rahul too has endorsed the Prime Ministers leadership publicly on a number of instances.
That Sonia and Rahul have chosen to travel with the Prime Minister on the same plane rather than separately,Congress sources said,is also a measure of the comfort factor between them,especially the equation and comfort factor that Sonia has come to share with Singh over the last few years. Though the flight to Chandigarh will be a short one,party leaders did not rule out the possibility of the three leaders discussing critical pending issues including crucial appointments in the government.
Sonia had shown similar steadfastness in supporting the Prime Minister when he came under attack by the Opposition over the 2G spectrum scandal recently. Dismissing all accusations against him,she told a CPP meeting three months back that the institution of the Prime Minister should not be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
In her inaugural address at the Burari conclave last year,she complimented him for his wise leadership and said that the party stood solidly behind him.
