Sonia lays down line as UP unit ropes in Bush-haters

At a time when the Congress,in the run-up to the elections,seeks to showcase the Indo-US nuclear deal as one of its major contributions...

At a time when the Congress,in the run-up to the elections,seeks to showcase the Indo-US nuclear deal as one of its major contributions towards achieving energy security,party president Sonia Gandhi has taken a dim view of the partys Uttar Pradesh units decision to stitch up an alliance with a Muslim organisation whose president had offered bounties for beheading former US President George W Bush and Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

Party sources said Sonia was upset about the embarrassing episode of the party providing platform to Ittehad-e-Millat Council IMC president Tauqeer Raza Khan at party headquarters without checking his antecedents and credentials. Khan had reportedly offered Rs 5 lakh as bounty to anyone who beheads Nasreen and,by his own admission at the press conference at the Congress headquarters on March 26,Rs 25 crore to anyone who beheads Bush.

AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh and state PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi,who had ushered Khan to the partys press briefing to announce his support to the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections,were found clueless when asked about Khans announcements regarding Bush. Although Singh had dissociated the party from this,Khan had admitted that he had offered the bounty for Bushs head.

Party sources said even Sonia had not been informed about Khans antecedents and she was upset about it.

She has issued instructions that the announcement about those joining the Congress or extending their support to the party should be made at the state level,and not at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi,except in cases involving some prominent leaders,it was reliably learnt. At a 90-minute meeting with party spokespersons on Wednesday,she also expressed her disapproval of AICC general secretaries and state presidents showing up at press briefings.

At the meeting the Congress president was said to have instructed the spokespersons not to make personal attacks on opposition leaders and rather focus on highlighting the achievements of the UPA Government.