In an attempt to alter the negative public perceptions stemming out of allegations of rampant corruption, policy logjam and mis-governance, Congress president Sonia Gandhi tactically allowed the ‘economic’ issues to dominate the day-long dialogue session.
Seventy hand-picked Congress delegates, comprising ministers and working committee members, attended the brain-storming session in Surajkund on Friday.
With a year and a half to go before the next general elections, scheduled in 2014, Sonia seemed all set to push the Congress albatross into action, focusing on developing a synergy between the Government and the party. It was essentially a meet to discuss on how best to package and sell the Government’s unpopular economic decisions of recent days to the clearly agitated electorate.
If there was one single take-away from the meet, it was the Congress president’s announcement that a coordination committee and three sub-committees will be “created soon” to improve relations between the two. This would obviously serve as the party’s watch-dog over the Government and the party’s internal programmes. The announcement betrayed the deep-seated unease in the party over the Government’s recent moves.
“Sometimes, the party is unhappy with decisions taken by the Government. Both views have to be balanced,” the Congress president said.