The Hindu : Congress top brass meets to sort out differences

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Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003

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Congress top brass meets to sort out differences

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI SEPT. 15. Knowing well that the going could get tough in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Delhi if the party and the Government continue to be at loggerheads and operate independently, the AICC in charge of Delhi, Ahmed Patel, convened a "peace meeting" on Sunday of all the top leaders of the party in the Capital in an effort to forge unity and present a united front to take on the BJP challenge.

According to sources in the party, as part of the initiative to make all the factions sit across the table and join hands for the Assembly polls, Mr. Patel hosted a luncheon meeting at his residence. Prominent among those invited were the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who came in accompanied by her ministerial colleague A.K. Walia, AICC secretary, Anil Shastri, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, former DPPC president and Delhi Assembly Speaker, Subhash Chopra, former MPs, Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and J.P. Aggarwal, veteran Congressman, Shiv Charan Gupta, and AICC observer, Selja. Although the gathering was termed as a "routine affair" and an informal get-together to discuss the party strategy in the run-up to the polls, a lot of behind-the-scenes efforts were put in to bring together all these leaders under a single umbrella.

At the very outset, the leaders were told not to reveal the details of the meeting to the press. It is learnt that Mr. Patel told the leaders very clearly that it was time to put their heads together and seriously chalk out a common strategy to deal with the BJP challenge. It was felt that the recent block level meetings and district training camps had oiled the party machinery well and now the focus should be on specific issues and booth-wise preparation. The AICC in charge told all the leaders to sink their differences and said the party should make an all-out effort to highlight the achievements of the Delhi Government which would be one of the main planks of the party during the campaign for the Assembly polls. It was pointed out that the Parivartan Yatra of the Delhi BJP chief, Madan Lal Khurana, had turned out to be a non-starter and a strategy should be put in action in accordance with the problems and issues relating to the common man. It was felt that as per the directions of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, the party should focus on development and positive issues during the run-up to the polls.

Some of the leaders pointed out that instead of holding any further meetings, it would be better to prepare the cadres for booth wise job in order to ensure that bogus votes are deleted. The challenge for the party, some leaders said, was to create awareness among the masses about the achievements of the Sheila Dikshit Government and capitalise on the feel good factor associated with it. However, some leaders pointed out that efforts were being made to sideline them from the mainstream and they were not being taken into confidence on important matters. It was felt that such a tendency should not be encouraged and this practice needs to be put to an end. At the same time, Mr. Patel also urged the party leaders not to get complacent and continue to work among the grassroots. Some suggestions regarding denial of tickets to the sitting MLAs and finding new candidates also came up for discussion but it was decided that this could be dealt with later.

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