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| Inflation might have affected Cong in polls: Sonia | | |
NEW DELHI, MAR 6
In her first reaction on the party's defeat in Punjab and Uttarakhand, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said "objective factors" like price rise might have had an impact for the "disappointing" outcome.
"Our performance in Punjab and Uttarakhand left much to be desired...In spite of sound all-round development, we were unable to retain power. This tells us that while objective factors such as the price rise may have had an impact, there were other reasons as well," she said.
Addressing the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, the first after the elections to three states, Gandhi shared the concern of partymen over the price situation noting that it remain a source of worry.
"I know all of you have been concerned with the price situation. There is no doubt that our government has placed the economy on a higher growth path and the improvement climate has improved significantly. Business confidence, both nationally and internationally, is high. But prices remain a source of worry," she said.
Turning to the electoral debacle, she said, "if we are to learn from our experience, we must draw the correct conclusions."
Noting that the party needed to be candid with itself and look inwards, she posed a number of questions including why so many sitting MLAs and ministers failed to retain their seats, what were the party's shortcomings, did we put up the best possible candidates and effort?
She said these questions as also whether the party failed to work unitedly and whether it was mindful enough of the sensitivites and expectations of different sections of society needed to be answered.
Making it clear that the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next month was a "difficult challenge", she said the party is "going to be put to the test again".
She said that the party's performance in the U P civic polls gave it confidence. She said later in the year, Goa and Gujarat will also go to polls.
Gandhi, who is also the CPP Chairperson, has been expressing concern over rising prices for the past almost a year. She had spoken on the issue at a CPP meeting in May as also at two CWC meetings and two party Chief Ministers conferences, including one held at Nainital.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present at the meeting so also External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Leader of the Lok Sabha.
On the poll debacle, Gandhi said party unity and discipline are vital. "But again and again we tend to subjugate individual ambitions to larger party objectives."
Gandhi's comment was obviously in reaction to the number of rebel candidates in the fray in Punjab and Uttarakhand which also witnessed instances of oneupmanship between senior leaders.
"We must take note of the fact that a deep-rooted change is occurring in the mind and attitude of the electorate. Voters are becoming impatient, they want their lives to improve. They want good and clean governance, employment, prosperity, security and social justice", she said.
She sought to cheer up parytmen by telling them "we must not allow ourselves to get distracted from our path either by electoral swings that are inevitable in a democracy or by the disruptive machinations of the opposition".
Gandhi prefaced it by saying that it was important to "remain steadfast" to the party's programmes and to the CMP of the UPA, "which is based on our own priorities".
Gandhi attacked BJP and its allies for disrupting Parliament on the Quattrocchi issue which, however, she did not refer to in her speech.
At the same time, she said that whenever contentious issues have arisen, Congress and the Government led by it have steadfastly maintained readiness for debate. "This remains our position".
"The Budget session is the most important element in the functioning of Parliament. Unfortunately, the only objective of BJP and its allies is to disrupt. They do not seem to be interested in reasonable an d dignified discussions," she said.
Alleging that the kind of disturbance and disruption witnessed since the beginning of the session have only served to harm the legislative agenda of the nation, she hoped that the opposition would cooperate and ensure smooth and productive Parliamentary proceedings.
The BJP had stalled Parliament for a few days over the the Ottavio Quattrocchi issue in the wake of his detention in Argentina amidst opposition charges that government had attempted a cover up on the matter.
On the price situation, Gandhi noted that the Prime Minister has written to all Chief Ministers listing measures to be taken to combat inflation and urging them to take further action in this regard like keeping a check on hoarding and speculation.
She said the government has also begun to import essential commodities while restricting the export of others in relatively short supply.
The Reserve Bank has also taken steps to rein in demand side pressure on prices, she said adding that in the coming months the remaining commitments to take forward the CMP commitments needed to be taken.
These, she said, include a social safety net for unorganised sector workers and an effective rehabilitation policy for people displaced by development projects.
She said that both the Railway Budget and the General Budget demonstrate the continuing priorities of our government and reflect the commitments of the party manifesto.
"The General Budget has launched a number of new initiatives. I am particularly happy with the emphasis that has been given to the revival of agriculture, to expanding secondary and university education, and to improving the quality of rural health care", she said.
She said that the Government has made a beginning in social security for workers in the unorganised scctor and hoped that it would be expanded soon.
Noting that the UPA coalition was now more than half way thorugh the five year term, she underlined the need for supporting the government to speedily implement the programmes for all sections especially the more vulnerable ones and the minorities. |
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