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Sonia asks partymen to get ready for any development

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today alerted partymen to get ready for any development in the ''medium or even short term as at any moment the party might be called to assume responsibilities.''

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party , Sonia said the government is engaged in a struggle for survival and there has been no governance.

''I sense resurgence for the Congress in the air,'' she said urging them to work hard.

Sonia wanted Congress leaders to use the inter-session period to interact closely with the workers and strengthen the party's base, educate the people about the findings of the Jain Commission and put in the best efforts to ensure the return of Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram and to replace the governments in Rajasthan and Delhi in the coming assembly election.

She said Parliament had the most ''unproductive monsoon session'' and it was hardly the members's fault.

The CPP has done a splendid job of focusing on issues and fulfilling its duties as a responsible and constructive Opposition. ''It is the government that has revealed through this session its inexperience, its lack of direction, its incoherence, and its internal dissensions. There has been no governance, only a struggle for survival,'' she said.

If the last session was overtaken by the inept handling of the diplomatic and strategic fallout of the nuclear tests, this session has been overtaken by the government's failure on the economic front, she said. Growth is stagnating while prices are spiralling out of control. There is no indication that the government has an economic policy at all, she said.

Sonia wanted partymen to be vigilant on the economic front to draw the attention of the people to the economic consequences of the unstable government.

The Congress president said the instability of the government did not arise from anything the Opposition was doing, but from its own internal quarrels. It was very clear now that the national agenda papered over serious differences between the coaltion partners. ''There has been no reconciliation of the policy, personality and even personal matters which divide them,'' she said.

This session was a source of disappointment for the Congress which was committed to the political empowerment of women, she said.

The Congress was committed to one third reservation for women and it brought no distinction to Parliament that a bill which had secured consensus should be stalled even at the introduction stage, she said. She hoped that the inter-session period could be used to work out ways of fulfilling the party's commitment to women.

Referring to the Jain Commission report, Sonia Gandhi said the issue affected all Congressmen deeply and emotionally. The truth about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi should come out and what was uncovered must be highlighted.

What remained to be investigated should be investigated, she said asking members of parliament to educate the workers and people about the findings of the Jain Commission and its implications.

Expressing concern over the Goa developments, Sonia said the party faced betrayal by those elected on Congress ticket, and bias and favouritism by the governor.

The politicisation of a high constitutional office ''bodes ill for the future,'' she said. She said the party has to be vigilant to forestall and expose the twisting of the Constitution by the government to serve its narrow ends. She recalled that it was under similar circumstances that Atal Bihari Vajpayee went on a fast unto death in Lucknow a few months back.

Sonia said she would resume her tour programme to various states. She would visit Assam shortly to meet the flood victims.

She said disturbing developments were likely in the international stage between now and November. India might find itself in the dock in the UN General Assembly due to the diplomatic errors of the government.

She regretted that the government was hardly taking any initiative to re-establish the national consensus on which foreign and defence policy has been based since Independence.

She, however, offered her party's co-operation to the government in ensuring that the fair name of the country was not tarnished and that national interests were protected.

She said India must play its full part to strengthen the Non-Aligned Movement. She regretted that in four months of misrule, India had lost its leadership position in NAM.

On Kashmir, the stand should be firm and there should not be any third-party interference. This could be ensured by adopting a constructive and enlightened approach to the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan and repairing the bridges to China which have been needlessly damaged, she said.

The leadership of India and the United States needs to raise relations between us to the levels warranted by our being the two largest democracies in the world , she said.

As for global nuclear issues, the sheet anchor of the Congress party's policy was the action plan for a nuclear-weapon-free and non-violent world order presented by Rajiv Gandhi to the UN in 1988.

She said the Congress was disturbed at the government's failure to spell out its stand on the action plan. It must make its stand clear in consultation with other parties before the important international developments scheduled to take place from September onwards, she said.

UNI

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