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Sonia utilises birthday to probe colleagues' mind on bidding for power

George Iype in New Delhi

As hordes of Congressmen lined up before 10, Janpath to wish party president Sonia Gandhi on her 52nd birthday on Wednesday, she gave out confusing signals to senior leaders about the party's future political strategy.

In the past ten days, Sonia has met most Congress Working Committee members and other senior leaders personally to seek their advice as to how she should steer the party, especially after its resounding victory in last month's assembly poll.

While Congress leaders admit that Sonia can lead the party at this juncture, many of them have submitted differing views to her on the means the party should employ to capture power at the Centre.

Thus, leaders like Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jitendra Prasada, Ahmed Patel and Sushil Kumar Shinde want Sonia to seize the full benefit of the Congress victory in the state polls and pull down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government with the help of the Left parties and the BJP's disgruntled coalition partners.

But others like Dr Manmohan Singh, Purno A Sangma, A K Antony, Rajesh Pilot, Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, Tariq Anwar and Oscar Fernandes want the Congress to continue sitting on the Opposition benches and go in for a mid-term poll if the Vajpayee government falls next year.

A section of Congress MPs, led by Sharad Pawar, the party's leader in the Lok Sabha, are not anxious to topple the Vajpayee government. But they want the BJP-led coalition to fall on its own first. "We want the party to form a government at the Centre as and when the Vajpayee regime makes an exit," a Pawar supporter and MP told Rediff On The NeT.

But he said Sonia, having patiently listened to the various submissions from Congress leaders, is now keeping quiet on her strategy. "We really do not know what is on Sonia's mind. She keeps meeting the Left leaders; but at the same time she tells senior leaders that the Congress will not bring down the Vajpayee government," the Pawar loyalist said.

Before the assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, the Congress president had virtually promised CWC members that the party could bid for power at the Centre if it routs the BJP in two states.

"Having won three states with huge margins, we feel this is the right time to form a Congress-led government at the Centre. The problem with the Congress is that if we do not capture power when we are victorious, we will fare very badly," a Congress leader from south India who came to wish Sonia at the AICC headquarters said.

Party sources said Sonia's dilemma in toppling the Vajpayee government at the Centre, with outside support from Left parties, relates to her doubt about the "trustworthiness" of BJP allies like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha.

The AIADMK chief, who has been threatening to withdraw support to the Vajpayee coalition, has apparently decided to join hands with the Congress for an alternative government at the Centre.

But Congress leaders claim Sonia is not yet convinced about "Jayalalitha's reliability" as a coalition partner.

Jayalalitha's emissary, Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy has met Sonia a number of times to broker the Congress-AIADMK deal in the past two months.

But sources said the CWC members -- Rajesh Pilot and Reddy -- whom Sonia had employed to negotiate with AIADMK leaders on the feasibility of a Congress-AIADMK alliance, have submitted a negative report to the Congress president.

Pilot and Reddy have informed Sonia that Jayalalitha is unwilling to withdraw support to the BJP government till the Congress president gives her solemn promise on a set of demands like the dismissal of the M Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu and the kind of portfolios she needs in a Congress government.

But Sonia wants Jayalalitha to pull down the Vajpayee government first and then discuss the modalities of joining a Congress-led coalition.

Pilot said the Congress's main concern now is not to lure regional allies who might demand "heaven and earth" in a Congress-led government. "A Congress-led coalition cannot be a replica of the Vajpayee government. Prime Minister Vajpayee is now unable to rule the country because of his alliance partners," the CWC member told Rediff On The NeT.

Therefore, Pilot said, it will be prudent for the Congress to strengthen the party in the wake of the resurgent victory it achieved in the assembly polls.

"Definitely, we always wish to come to power with an absolute majority after a mid-term poll. But as a responsible Opposition party, we have to keep an eye on how the Vajpayee government behaves in the coming days," he said.

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