We'll not give up our political space: Sonia

“We have made alliances with different parties at the Centre and in the states. We do respect our allies. But it does not mean that we stop efforts to grow our organisation or give up our political space,” Congress President Sonia Gandhi said at the All India Congress Committee’s meeting here on Tuesday.

Sonia asked her party leaders and workers to pull up their socks for the Assembly polls due in at least eight states over the next two years in order to reclaim the party’s glory. 

Her remarks appeared to be in line with the agenda she had set for her party immediately after the Congress-led UPA had won the general elections last year. She had asked the Congress leaders and workers to strive to restore its historic role as a party of natural governance. “These elections are going to be a big test for our party – a test for which we all would have to prepare ourselves with all sincerity and with the spirit of unity,” she said.

Sonia’s remarks signaled a toughening in Congress posture before it starts negotiations with allies like the Trinamool and the DMK for sharing of seats before the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Though the Congress has an alliance with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress both in West Bengal and at the Centre, the party leaders in the eastern state are not happy over the one-upmanship of its ally.

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi visited West Bengal in September to give a boost to the party workers in the state and stressed that though the party valued its alliance with the Trinamool, the relationship must be based on mutual respect.  Mamata soon hit back and, in a snipe to young Gandhi, said that she and her party were neither seasonal birds nor seasonal flowers in West Bengal. The Trinamool chief also said that she did not do politics from a “bed of gold”.

Mamata is apparently not happy over the appointment of Manas Bhunia as the president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. Trinamool also has serious disagreements with the Congress on several issues like the amendment of the Land Acquisition Act and withdrawal of the Central paramilitary forces from the Maoist-infected areas in West Bengal.

Mamata has been alleging that the Left Front government in the state was using the forces for its political interests ahead of the Assembly polls.

In Tamil Nadu, which also goes to the polls in 2011, some of the Congress leaders want the party to go in alone ending its ties with the DMK. The ruling DMK is dependent on support from the Congress, which however, is not a part of the TN government. Meanwhile, the AIADMK is lobbying to strike a deal with the Congress.
After the Congress’ go-it-alone formula worked well for it in UP in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party has done the same in the current Bihar Assembly polls too. Rahul Gandhi, too, said on Tuesday that it was the Congress which alone could claim to be a party of the entire nation, while others had merely been “either regional, or based on caste or religion.”

 Sideshow

Only Cong can unite rich and poor: Rahul
»Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said only Congress can unite the two, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
Asking party members to work for the weaker sections who can take the country forward, Gandhi family scion said while addressing AICC session here, “There are two Indias – one is growing very fast while the other is for the poor (which is in crisis)....We have to connect and unite the two”.

Tough time  for scribes
»Around 50 journalists had problem entering the Talkatora stadium after the police refused to allow them inside as they were “late”, DHNS reports. “Though we requested senior officers to allow media personnel to enter the venue, they did not budge. Then we had to use “the good offices of home minister P Chidambaram to get the scribes inside the stadium,” said Tom Vadakkan, a senior leader.

Manmohan  look-alike
»A Manmohan Singh look-alike created much mirth at the AICC meeting with even Sonia Gandhi looking at him with amusement, DHNS reports.
When Gurmit Singh Sethi, AICC member from Chhattisgarhfrom walked in the packed Talkatora stadium, delegates as well as the media team started looking at him as he was wearing the prime minister’s trademark white kurta, pyjama and skyblue turban. Sonia also noticed Gurmit and even tried to draw the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.