Thursday, October 17, 2013

Congress 'Whip' On PCC Over Misleading 'Sonia' Posters

By Sufia Niyazi / Lucknow

Congress today justified the suspension of its many office bearers in Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, who had put up controversial hoardings declaring party president Sonia Gandhi as ill and exhorting her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to contest upcoming elections. “Whatever they have done is very wrong. 

The hoarding has been interpreted as the Congress president is terminally ill,” party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said, adding, suspension of the workers is the “party’s internal matter”. 
At the same time, the party found nothing wrong in the demand to bring Priyanka into active politics. “There will always be a demand to bring Priyanka Gandhi in the front as there was a demand to bring Rahul Gandhi to the forefront,” Chowdhury said. 

She, however, refused to answer queries whether it meant that Priyanka will also ultimately join active politics like party vice president Rahul Gandhi saying “it is our internal matter.” The Congress spokesperson also rejected contentions of any parallel between Rahul talking about his mother’s illness at a rally in Madhya Pradesh today and the hoardings which were put up in Allahabad. 

The poster had stated that Sonia Gandhi is unwell, Rahul is overburdened and exhorted Priyanka to contest polls from Phoolpur constituency to help the party to return to power for the third time. The hoardings ostensibly referred to Congress president’s occasional trips to the US for medical treatment. 

Talking about the government considering a proposal to rename the public distribution system after Indira Gandhi to prevent Opposition parties from taking credit for implementing the National Food Security Act, Chowdhury said that “it is a popular demand, which is being discussed.” Meanwhile, a senior leader, on condition of anonymity, refused to rule out the possibility of Priyanka contesting the polls.

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