The Hindu : `Polls, a trial of strength for Congress'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 19, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Polls, a trial of strength for Congress'

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Oct. 18. The former MP and Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, Ratnakar Pandey, has said that his party should field candidates with a "clean image" in the coming elections to the Legislative Assemblies of five States. A victory in these States will enable the party to form the Government at the Centre with "relative ease", according to him.

He told presspersons here today that the Assembly elections would be a trial of strength for the Congress. He said the party had taken up people's welfare programmes in the five States. "Party leaders and representatives who have been identified as corrupt, and those who have not maintained a rapport with the people, even if they are ministers, should be denied ticket. The Congress High Command could opt for fresh faces rather than field people with a tarnished background,'' he added.

Dr. Pandey said the party should improve its presence in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttaranchal, and Jharkhand. The Congress had won only 18 Lok Sabha seats in these States which accounted for 290 seats. It was imperative for the party to finalise a programme and enable the party President, Sonia Gandhi, to achieve her goal of becoming Prime Minister. He hoped that Priyanka Vadra would play a leading role in the coming elections.

Referring to the privatisation of public sector industries which were making profits, he said the Congress should categorically state that if voted to power at the Centre, it would reverse the privatisation process.

It should also come out with a clear economic agenda with particular reference to the working class and the middle class.

Commercial banks had drastically reduced the interest rates on fixed deposits, and the Congress should assure the people that it would restore 14 per cent interest on deposits, he added.

Dr. Pandey said the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's recent programme to hold Ram puja at Ayodhya had failed, and the BJP and its associate organisations, including the RSS, were speaking in many voices. It was evident that the BJP wanted to face the next general elections with focus on the temple issue. "The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and the BJP are together in this," he added.

He said the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati's demand for a probe by the CBI into the assets of Bhattacharya, foster son-in-law of the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, should be conceded.

Dr. Pandey said the Congress Government in the State had done well, and the party would return to power after the next elections. Senior leaders such as C.K. Jaffer Sharief were expressing their views apparently with an eye on the Chief Minister's post, he added.

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`Polls, a trial of strength for Congress'