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Sonia concerned over 'directionless' rule

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today expressed concern over the ''directionless'' governance of the past few months, which had resulted in back-breaking inflation and tension on the borders.

Delivering the inaugural address at a function organised by the All India Freedom Fighters Organisation on the eve of the 56th anniversary of the Quit India Movement in New Delhi, Sonia said she was ''worried'' about the state of affairs.

While this was a result of the Congress not being in power, the party itself had been involved in the past few months in improving its functioning.

''Our aim is to make the Congress the kind of party it was at the time of the freedom struggle. Gandhiji taught us the meaning of politics based on ethics and values and we would like to follow that.

Calling upon the freedom fighters to wage a second struggle for independence, she said the enemy this time was not an outsider, but weaknesses within the country.

In Kochi, senior Congress leader K Karunakaran today said that his party would not bring down the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre and asserted that "it would collapse on its own because of internal contradictions".

Talking to the media at the airport on his arrival from New Delhi along with President K R Narayanan, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, Karunakaran said the alliance partners were feeling 'disgusted' and it would not be surprising if the government fell in the near future.

The Congress would not shirk its responsibility in the event of the fall of the Vajpayee government, he added.

Karunakaran declined to go into the groupism in the Kerala unit of the Congress, which led to the postponement of party elections in the state several times.

Asked who would be his group's nominee for the party state presidentship, he said, "It will be known when the nominations are filed."

UNI

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