The Hindu : National : Rahul Gandhi steals the limelight at plenary

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Monday, Jan 23, 2006

National

National

Rahul Gandhi steals the limelight at plenary

K.V. Prasad

He should take the centre-stage, say Congress leaders

CYNOSURE OF ALL EYES: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi at the party's plenary in Hyderabad on Sunday._ PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

HYDERABAD: The stage was perfect and so was the timing. Nearly 20 months after baptism in electoral politics, Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday heard a chorus at the All India Congress Committee demanding he be given a greater responsibility in the organisation.

The stray voices that emanated from different corners of the country during the past few days reached a crescendo. All of them demanded that Mr. Gandhi takes the centre-stage at the 82nd Plenary being held at Gachibowli, renamed Rajiv Gandhi Nagar for the occasion.

With the assembly insisting that Gandhi be seated on the stage along with 120-odd distinguished delegates, the young MP walked up to announce he would prefer to speak from the podium on Monday, after spending the day listening to the deliberations.

It was not once but twice that Mr. Gandhi was forced to come up on the stage and urge that order be restored. The second intervention came when the session was deliberating the resolution on agriculture. While calm was restored after two brief but noisy interludes, the demand kept reverberating through out the day. Members ranging from Union Ministers State Congress Chiefs to youth leaders had just one chant: "Bring Rahul Gandhi forward in the organisation".

Leader after leader insisted on telling the assembly on the need to promote youth in the country and invariably linked the future of the party to Mr. Gandhi. The extent to which the argument went took away the seriousness from the debate on various resolutions. A few members asserted that with Mr. Gandhi being given greater responsibility in the organisation, the party could turn the tide even in Uttar Pradesh, where it has been in wilderness for over a decade.

There are five vacancies in the Congress Working Committee and the demand is that Mr. Gandhi be inducted into the policy making body with the Amethi, Sultanpur and Rae Bareli party workers circulating a "special resolution" to this effect.

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