New Delhi, January 7
The Congress has accepted the BJP challenge and gone into election mode. Having already taken the lead in reaching out to potential alliance partners, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said she would personally talk to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is also being wooed by the BJP. She also deputed senior leader Manmohan Singh to go to Chennai to discuss a possible electoral tie-up with DMK President M. Karunanidhi.

Ever since the BJP indicated that the Lok Sabha poll could be advanced, there has been a flurry of activity in the Congress camp. While beginning talks on alliances, Ms. Gandhi has also convened a host of internal meetings to set the Congress house in order for the impending general election. Today, a special five-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) chalked out a 10-point action plan for the election and flagged the strategies and the issues it plans to focus on.

As suggested by the Pranab Mukherjee panel, the CWC decided to set up a high-level team, to be headed by Sonia Gandhi, to initiate moves on alliances and adjustments with secular forces. Speaking to reporters later, Ms Gandhi said discussions were on with like-minded parties which are determined to fight the BJP but nothing had been finalised so far.

Though Ms Gandhi did not name any specific political party, it was made clear that the Congress was willing to join hands with anybody keen on defeating the BJP, which included the once “untouchable” Kalyan Singh. This was emphasised by Congress spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy and others who said options of an agreement with Mr Kalyan Singh were wide open. Similarly, the Congress was reaching out to the BSP but, at the same time, did not wish to ditch the Samajwadi Party either.

The general mood at the meeting, it is learnt, was to take on the BJP’s “Vajpayee vs. Sonia” campaign squarely and aggressively and focus on the NDA government’s poor performance. “Sonia Gandhi is our leader ... this is not an issue of debate. She is the leader of the Congress and has to lead from the front. Let’s hope the BJP can keep pace with her,” remarked CWC member Salman Khurshid after the meeting. As in the case of Indira Gandhi, who was associated with a host of attributes, a similar bouquet of attributes would be presented in the case of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, he added.

There was a brief reference to this aspect of the BJP campaign at the CWC meeting with AICC General Secretary R.K. Dhawan stating that since theirs was a federal set-up, the Congress should make it a fight between parties and their programmes and not personalities. AICC General Secretary Vyalar Ravi reacted sharply, stating, “Why should we do that...does it mean we are leaderless.”