FOR THE HAND: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other AICC members raise their hands in approval of the political resolution at the Subjects Committee at the party plenary in Hyderabad on Sunday. — PHOTO: AP

HYDERABAD: The Congress said on Sunday that while it remained committed to the politics of coalition it was also determined to increase its strength to seek a return to power on its own at the Centre.

This was the message it sought to send as it began deliberations at the 82nd plenary session of the All-India Congress Committee at Gachibowli, renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Nagar for the occasion here.

Even as the party began serious debate on the four resolutions placed before the assembly, there were persistent demands from vociferous party members and a few senior leaders for a "greater organisational role for Amethi MP, Rahul Gandhi.'' Mr. Gandhi himself had to intervene twice to keep the deliberations on track and not to be sidetracked by personal loyalties.

The Hyderabad plenary is the first such exercise after the Congress returned to power at the Centre via the coalition route. It saw a measured response from the party to contemporary issues and an attempt to fine-tune some policies, which have been under attack from the Left parties.

In her brief remarks, Congress president Sonia Gandhi touched upon the various resolutions taken up for deliberations and preferred to hear the views of the participants. She said the sentiments expressed by the participants would be taken note of by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues in the Government.

Dr. Singh who is scheduled to speak on Monday is expected to touch upon the broad theme that the success of the United Progressive Alliance Government would be the success of the party. He is also expected to elaborate on the achievements of the 20-month coalition Government he heads.

The day-long deliberations adopted resolutions such as Political; Economic; External Security and International Affairs; and Agriculture, Employment and Poverty Alleviation. These would now come up for discussion before the plenary on Monday.

In the political resolution, the party made the categorical assertion that it would "aggressively confront and fight the Left parties'' which are supporting the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government from outside. It sought to make a clear distinction on the party approach to its main political opponents, the Left in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

On the economic front, it said that while working to make the country an economic superpower and consolidate the reforms process, its commitment to the poor and the disadvantaged through Governmental intervention remained. On the public distribution system, it said the Government should not cut down subsidies for families below the poverty line, and maintain the level of quantity of foodgrains supplied to them.

The party said the Government should strengthen the `navratna' public sector undertakings and "under no circumstance'' privatise them. It should not use the funds from PSUs to meet revenue expenditure, the resolution said.

On external affairs, the resolution made a case for reviewing the role of the Non-Aligned Movement in rapidly transforming international order and urged India to take a leadership role.

The relations with United States, it said, were based on reciprocity and transparency. On Iran, the party said it hoped that the current impasse would be resolved through a mutually acceptable solution in the interest of world peace and keeping in mind Iran's concern for freedom to use nuclear research for peaceful purposes.

Earlier, the party adopted condolence resolutions.

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