Don’t lose heart, Sonia to MPs

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked her party men not to lose heart but to get ready for “another battle,” in May 2014. Blaming the rout of the Congress in Assembly elections on the lack of unity and failure to project the government policies, programmes and achievements, she said that the party needed greater unity of purpose and discipline.

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at the fag-end of the Winter Session of Parliament, Sonia Gandhi advised her party to be more vocal against their opponents. She said, “We must not be afraid to speak against those who offer only a narrow and destructive alternative.” Without naming BJP or its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Congress President said, “Our opponents advocate policies of divisiveness and sectarian interests. They mock our social ethos. Their ideology is illiberal and will prevent the continuing modernization and emancipation of our country and our people.”

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the party is expected to be vitriolic, shedding all its inhibitions in speaking against Narendra Modi, who is also known to be taking his political rivals head-on.

Sonia Gandhi admitted that the results of the assembly elections were “deeply disappointing.” Except for Mizoram, the Congress was defeated in all the Hindi-heartland states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

Blaming it on lack of discipline and unity, the Congress President said that in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, despite a spirited campaign, the party failed to dislodge the incumbent governments. In Chhattisgarh, she said that the Congress came fairly close to defeating the BJP. “Had we shown greater unity of purpose, we might have succeeded,” she lamented.

In the Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Delhi, the Congress President blamed it on the failure of the party to publicize its achievements. Going into the causes of the defeat, she said, “It is obvious that we have not been able to convince the people of our policies, programmes and achievements. We, have not, it seems, been able to fulfill their aspirations.”

Boosting the morale of her party men, Sonia Gandhi said that the Congress has won and lost many elections. In victory or defeat, the party must remember that its solemn duty to serve the people to the best of their ability. “Adversity always tests us and it is at such times that it is most important to reaffirm our unswerving allegiance to the principles of democracy, secularism, liberalism and inclusiveness. These are the abiding values of our party.” The UPA Chairperson took credit to the passing of several legislations despite frequent disruptions in Parliament. She talked about the passing of the historic Lokpal Bill by terming it as a “watershed in our fight against corruption, which we began with the historic RTI in 2005.”