Fearing that even the Congress rank and file might fall for its main rival BJP’s campaign blitzkrieg, party chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday exhorted her leaders to shed diffidences and negative mindset before the polls. Addressing the Congress campaign committee, a combative Sonia said the party should “fight the Lok Sabha elections as a challenge” and not approach it with the fear of losing it. She asserted that there was no reason for the Congress to feel unsure of its electoral prospects.
Hinting that the six anti-corruption legislations could be brought in through the ordinance route by the Union Cabinet on Friday, Minister of State V Narayanasamy said they should be put place at any cost.
The overall theme of the discussion, sources said, revolved around the BJP campaign led by Narendra Modi “being unduly favoured by the television news channels” and backed by a sizeable chunk of corporate India. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari pointed out that both the media and the corporate sector were largely tilted towards the BJP and said there was a need to take Modi head-on.
Meanwhile, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who was present at the meeting, disapproved of Salman Khursheed’s “impotent” remark on Modi. Rahul later told the media that he was against the use of such offensive language in politics. Khursheed, incidentally, was not present at the meeting.
Taking a dig at outsiders coming into the Congress fold and cornering space that legitimately belonged to Congressmen and women, Satyabarat Chaturvedi is said to have told the leadership that “paratroopers and tainted persons should not be given tickets”.
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