Andhra Pradesh   

Sonia briefed on party’s prospects

HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and the AP Congress Committee president D. Srinivas called on AICC president Sonia Gandhi separately and confidently told her that the party was sure to come back to power comfortably.

Briefing her about the poll prospects in the two-phase elections in the State, the two leaders were said to have apprised her about how the party would retain power. But, the two leaders did not specify the number of Assembly and Parliamentary seats that the party was poised to win in the elections.

Sources close to the APCC chief maintained that Ms. Gandhi had expressed satisfaction at the party’s performance.

“She was upbeat about the prospects of Congress party in Andhra Pradesh. She hopes that Congress would bag considerable number of parliamentary seats in the State to make its contribution crucial in the formation of the UPA Government,” sources told The Hindu.

It was pointed out that Mr. Srinivas explained the party’s seat-winning prospects in the first and second phases of elections. Sources stated that the issue of seeking support of either the Telangana Rashtra Samiti or the Praja Rajyam Party did not figure in the consultations with the party president. “Where is the need for discussing such a scenario when the two top leaders have categorically expressed the confidence of party retaining power on its own,” a close aide of the APCC president remarked.

Later, Dr. Reddy told journalists that he had no difference of opinion with Mr. Srinivas on the number of seats in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha the party could win in the State. “Our thinking is exactly alike,” he quipped. When pointed out that the Grand Alliance too was making similar claims of getting a majority, he said they were only expectations.

Mr. Srinivas said the party would comfortably form the government in the State without having to seek support from any party.

In the Lok Sabha poll, a good chunk of candidates from the party would get elected and play a role in the formation of a Congress-led government at the Centre, he said. Dr. Reddy, who is camping here for the last three days, will leave for Shimla along with his family and return to Hyderabad on May 6, it is said.

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