The Hindu Business Line : Sounding the bugle

All the lurking apprehensions that the UPA Government might call it quits in the wake of stalemate on the nuclear issue between the coalition partners and the supporting Left party have been overcome. And with the winter session of Parliament drawing to a close on Friday, the mood in the Congress party appears to be one of caution, and not any smug satisfaction.

This is reflected in the address of the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, to members of Parliament at the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

Even as the economy remains poised for another year of high growth, with GDP forecast to be close to 9 per cent for the current fiscal, the CPP Chairperson spared no words to praise the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, for his “wise leadership, which he has demonstrated with quiet determination.”

Appeal to MPs

Not one given to flamboyance, Ms Gandhi lamented the loss of a number of days in the ongoing Parliament session due to the principal Opposition party, the BJP’s “obstructionist attitude” and said the campaigning in poll-bound States of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, to be followed by other States in the North-East, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland, would be in full swing.

While adverting to elections in the States, she also exhorted her MPs “between now and when we meet again in a little over two months’ time to spend time in your constituency, among the people, speak to them about our programmes, inform yourselves about their implementation, learn from them what they expect of us and as party workers participate in activities that will strengthen the Party”.

Presumably, the Congress President wants the party machinery to be fighting fit, to face any eventuality in case there is a need for going to the polls, given the complex nature of alliances and supports the UPA Government has crafted.

Interestingly, in a veiled and enigmatic way, she also chose to reiterate the AICC resolution that had highlighted the Congress party stand on the “tragic and painful events that took place in Nandigram”.

Repeating that the cult of violence and the manner in which armed party cadres prevented the law and order machinery from fulfilling its obligations to the people are most “unfortunate,” Ms Gandhi said “a permanent solution must be found to ensure that such incidents do not occur again and again.”

Economic programme

On the economic programme of the UPA Government, Ms Gandhi said the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension scheme is a fulfilment of a key pledge ‘of our manifesto’ and said a Rs 1,530-crore post-matric scholarship scheme for students belonging to minority communities is now ready to benefit 15 lakh youth over the next five years.

As the economy is already in the inaugural year of the Eleventh Plan, Ms Gandhi asserted that “it is a Plan not just for sustaining high economic growth but more critically, for empowering the weaker sections of society to derive tangible benefits from economic growth, for addressing regional disparities, for strengthening the foundations of our agriculture and for expanding access to education, health and nutrition.”

In short, the CPP address by the Congress President has sounded the bugle to the rank and file of the party to remain alert to political signals in the months to come though every thing appears hunky-dory at the moment.