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| Sonia Gandhi's workload increases | | Congress keen to retain power in three States | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI| JAN 18
Congress supremo, Sonia Gandhi, has issued fresh instructions to her partymen urging them to put in extra efforts to ensure victory of Congress party during the upcoming Assembly elections in three States. Instructions were sent out while Sonia was found engaged in the task of preparing strategy to retain power in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipurin next month's polls.
The Congress party is making extra efforts to come out with attractive manifestoes and highlighting achievements of their governments in these States as well as at the Centre, as if anticipating voter backlash over the lukewarm performance of its governments. Northern States of Punjab and Uttarakhand along with Manipur in north-east would elect new Legislative Assemblies next month.
Retaining power in all these States is crucial for the party's grand plans to expand its base and lessen its dependence on allies by the time the next general elections get underway in the next 27 months. The party think tank, according to sources, is busy preparing manifesto drafts for the three States along with strategies to counter the anti-incumbency factor.
Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, and Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, are part of the team preparing the drafts. While veteran Mukherjee is considered a master draftsman and was the author of the 2004 manifesto that helped the Congress party come to power at the Centre, Chidambaram has been especially invited to help deflect the general anger in the country over price rise.
"Instead of getting defensive, the whole idea is to highlight our achievements and back it up with lucrative development-oriented promises that can be fulfilled in the next five years to deflect the opposition criticism and voters' anger", a senior central office bearer of the party told EARLY TIMES.
A decision has been taken to focus on efforts to give reservation for backward castes in institutions of higher learning, ongoing efforts to expand scope of job reservations in the private sector and the plans afoot to integrate the minority Muslim community, especially the poor among them, in the national mainstream.
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