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Jogi meets Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 27. Amid speculation on the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheeting him in the near future in the case involving the forgery of an IB document, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi, today made a fleeting visit to the Capital; purportedly to brief the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, about his parleys with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leadership on a possible understanding for the coming Assembly elections. Mr. Jogi met Ms. Gandhi for 15 minutes and later told newspersons that he had briefed her on his talks with the BSP. As for reports of the CBI planning to chargesheet him, the Chief Minister was dismissive, maintaining that he would cross the bridge when it came.

Meanwhile, senior party leaders — Ms. Gandhi's political secretary, Ahmed Patel, the treasurer, Motilal Vora, the AICC in-charge of Chhattisgarh, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and S. C. Shukla — met during the day to shortlist the names for the Campaign Committee of the State. Ms. Gandhi will take a final decision.

Apparently, efforts are on to persuade Mr. Shukla to head the committee as the recently carved out State has always been regarded a stronghold of the Shukla brothers. Moreover, many in the party are of the view that having Mr. Shukla lead the campaign would send a strong signal given the fact that his younger brother, V. C. Shukla, recently parted ways with the Congress to join hands with the NCP.

On a possible alliance with the BSP in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Shukla said Mayawati's party did not have much of a base in the State and Mr. Jogi was here to discuss the pros and cons of a Congress-BSP understanding in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Of the five States going to the polls this year, Chhattisgarh has finalised its manifesto.

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