Cong ready for poll: Sonia
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4 — After tasting victory in the Assembly elections of three northern states of Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, a confident AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, today declared that her party was ready to face a fresh general election in the country, "if such a situation arises".

Mrs Gandhi was talking briefly to newsmen after meeting Congressmen from Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh at the Union Territory State Guest House here.

Reiterating that the Congress would not make any efforts to topple the Vajpayee Government, Mrs Gandhi said she did not know how long the BJP would remain in the saddle.

Asked if the principle of not toppling the government at the Centre would also be applied by the Congress in the states, Mrs Gandhi said the situation would be assessed state-wise and a decision would be taken on "a state to state basis". She said the recent victory of the Congress was due to a positive vote for the party and also because the BJP policies had failed. The Congress victory in Madhya Pradesh was a proof of its positive vote.

Answering a question Mrs Gandhi said there was no question of replacing the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The Haryana Youth Congress would also soon get a President. Regarding speculation about Chief Minister Bansi Lal joining the Congress, Mrs Gandhi said she too was hearing a lot of remours in this regard but she was not aware of any concrete move in this connection.

Earlier she met the delegations of Congressmen from Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh separately. She also met a delegation of the Young Farmers Association of Punjab and Haryana and that of the Indian Youth Congress led by its President, Mr Manish Tiwari.

Mrs Gandhi appreciated the efforts of the Congressmen of the three states who campaigned in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in ensuring a victory for the party.

The Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told Mrs Gandhi that due to the efforts made by all partymen the Congress was confident of winning a mid-term poll to the state Assembly. Criticising the "apathy" of the state government towards the plight of the farmers who had to sell the paddy crop in distress and were now facing a severe shortage of DAP, Mr Hooda said a word from Mrs Gandhi in this regard would go a long way in awakening the ruling party out of its deep slumber.

As the meeting with the Haryana Congressmen, which lasted for less than 10 minutes, was about to conclude the former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, who was sitting next to Mr Hooda, urged Mrs Gandhi to meet the partymen individually. He said the situation in the Haryana Congress was very bad (meaning thereby that the party was faction-ridden) and Mrs Gandhi must do something about it immediately.

But Mr Bhajan Lal was over-ruled by several partymen, including Mr Kuldip Sharma, and Mr Balwant Gupta, Presidents of the Karnal and Ambala (Urban) DCCs, respectively, who said all was well with the state Congress. They said in the entire country the performance of the Haryana Congress was on the top. Mrs Gandhi did not seem to have paid any attention to the controversy.

She promised that she would address a public meeting in Haryana soon. Former PWD Minister, Anand Singh Dangi said the public meeting should be organised in Meham.

The Haryana delegation included, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala and Mr Dharam Pal Singh Malik, both former party chiefs; Mr Lachhman Singh, M.P.; Dr Ram Prakash, Mr Tejinder Pal Singh Maan and Mrs Parsanni Devi, all former Ministers; Mr Jai Singh Rana, Mr Narinder Singh, Mr Dilu Ram, Mr Randeep Surjewala and Mr Khurshid Ahmed, all MLAs.

The Punjab delegation led by the party chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, is believed to have submitted a written report on the Adampur Assembly byelection to Mrs Gandhi. The report says the overwhelming support of all sections of society had ensured victory to the party nominee.

The delegation told Mrs Gandhi that the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, concentrated on ensuring the victory of his friend's son, Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, from the Punjabi-dominated seat of Sangaria in Rajasthan. However, the defeat of Mr Chautala from there and that of the Akali nominee in Adampur showed that the Punjabis had consolidated behind the Congress.

The delegation included Mr Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, and the former Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

The President of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress, Mr Venod Sharma, told Mrs Gandhi that the strength of the party counsellors in the city's civic body had gone up from one to four. The BJP would lose the Mayor's post because of its infighting with which the Congress had nothing to do. He said the Congress would win the forthcoming panchayat elections.

The former party chief, Mr Pawan Bansal, said all leaders were working unitedly in the interest of the party.

Mr Jagdeep Singh Cheema, President of the Young Farmers Association, said the farmers of Punjab and Haryana were passing through a very difficult time. The Congress should form a committee to study the problems of the farming communities. A progressive farmer said he had once suggested to the late Mr Rajiv Gandhi that his chauffeur should be a kisan so that he would have the first hand knowledge about the travails of farmers. He said he was offering the same suggestion to Mrs Gandhi.

Mrs Gandhi assured the delegation that when the Congress would come to power, it would pay special attention to the agriculture sector.

The President of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress, Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, said the party was working as per the decisions taken at the Calcutta convention. Mr Randeep Surjewala (Haryana) said the Youth Congress had acquired a new positive image after Mr Tiwari took over as its chief. Mr Sukhpal Singh (Punjab) said the Youth Congress workers had played a major role in the party's victory at Adampur.

According to Mr Manjit Sehdev, spokesman of the Chandigarh Youth Congress, Mrs Gandhi told the party workers to take up various public interest issues zealously.

Later Mrs Gandhi posed with small groups of the partymen for photographs. Politely saying no to special continental cuisine arranged for her by the organisers, Mrs Gandhi preferred to have "makhani daal" with "nan". While taking food she mingled with the partymen and discussed with them Punjabi and Haryanavi cuisine. She said she liked "Punjabi khana" which was promised to her by certain Punjab Congressmen when she would visit the state. From Mrs Parsnni Devi (Haryana) she enquired how "ladoos" were prepared. To another Haryana leader Mrs Gandhi told that she knew about "bajre ki roti" and "shakkar", though she did not taste "besan ki roti" today.

In a reminder of the Indira Gandhi days, those Congressmen who got a smile from Sonia were on cloud nine, while for those who failed to get attention from her, the day had been a disaster.