Congress Seeks Key Role for Rahul

A top Congress party official said yesterday that party leaders wanted Rahul Gandhi, the son of Sonia Gandhi, to play a meaningful role in the party.

AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni was answering questions at a media briefing on the proceedings of a Congress Working Committee meeting on the first day of the 82nd Congress plenary here.

“After the party’s conclave in Delhi, Congress leaders wanted Rahul Gandhi to join the organization in a meaningful manner so that more youth can be inspired to join the party to strengthen it,” Soni said.

However, she would not say whether any formal demand was made by any member at the CWC meeting yesterday to induct Rahul into the CWC. “I am not empowered to talk about what transpired at the extended CWC. I am neither denying it nor confirming it,” she said. Soni said the CWC meeting discussed the draft resolutions on political affairs, economic affairs, agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation and international relations and security for nearly four and a half hours.

She said all the 47 CWC members, except A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhary, attended the meeting along with other members of the extended body.
Congress Committee, delegates and over 7,000 state Congress delegates had come to participate in the plenary. Besides, up to 6,000 Congress workers from northern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had come to Hyderabad.
“They are neither AICC nor state delegates but ordinary party workers. We are in touch with security officers to let them into the AICC session. But the security agencies have not given clearance so far,” she added.
After the CWC meeting, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a presentation to the plenary on the programs of the United Progressive Alliance government. However, neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Congress President Sonia were present at this presentation.
Soon after the plenary, Sonia is likely to meet Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda to discuss the Karnataka crisis. At her news briefing, Soni, however, maintained that the Karnataka issue did not come up at the extended Congress Working Committee meeting yesterday.
She rejected suggestions that the party was a silent spectator to the imminent fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka. “This is not a matter of watching it silently. The man in charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka, A.K. Anthony, and CWC member Ahmed Patel are reviewing the developments in Karnataka. No political party can concede its defeat in such issues. There is every possibility of JD(S) president and Congress president having a meeting to discuss the matter in a few days. There is every possibility that H.D. Deve Gowda will prevail upon his (rebellious) party men. Chief Minister Dharam Singh is confident of surviving the trust vote on Jan. 27,” she said.
She conceded that the crisis in Karnataka had shown the fragility of coalitions. “Coalition governments are formed on the basis of common minimum programs. Sometimes, there are hiccups in coalitions. Such incidents (like the one in Karnataka) occur. But then Congress has been successfully running coalition governments in states such as Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir. There has been a peaceful change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir after three years. The coalition government in that state is a good example of coalitions working well,” she observed.
She said Congress had stuck to its principled stand in Karnataka that there should be no truck with communal forces. “Not a single Congress MLA has deviated from that stand. Deve Gowda has also said that there is no question of his having a truck with communal forces,” she added.
The beleaguered Dharam Singh was conspicuous by his absence at the extended CWC meeting. “I have not seen Dharam Singh here. I don’t know whether he will come here tomorrow or not. His presence is needed there,” she quipped. Soni said Congress would make every effort to see that the coalition governments led by it in the states complete their tenures. “Coalitions, after all, are managed by all coalition partners. The UPA is successfully running a coalition government at the center on the basis of a common minimum program,” she added.