Cong(I) to sharpen attack on NDA

By Javed M Ansari

NEW DELHI, AUG. 26. The Congress President and leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, has said her party intended sharpening its attack on the ``fragile'' NDA coalition. Talking to newsmen at a dinner hosted here last night by the party functionary, Mr. Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, she said the Government had ``failed on all fronts''.

Accusing the Government of functioning without cohesiveness or a sense of direction, Mrs. Gandhi cited its ``mishandling'' of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

``We have supported the peace initiative in Kashmir but they lack a coherent and cohesive policy; there are differences in the Government on the issue,'' she said. Also the Government ``intended to keep most things to itself'' rather than taking the entire political spectrum into confidence.

``I can understand that they cannot reveal all the details but it's still possible to take political parties into confidence on the general thrust of the policy''.

Mrs. Gandhi seemed particularly upset at the ``half- hearted'' attempt made on evolving a consensus on reservation for women. ``If a consensus cannot be achieved at one meeting what prevents them from convening a series of meetings? May be a consensus would emerge after the third or fourth meeting'', said Mrs. Gandhi. Reiterating her party's determination not to allow a lowering of the quota to 15 per cent as suggested by the Samajwadi party, the Congress chief said her party would fight tooth and nail to ensure that Women's Bill did get through Parliament.

She, however, did not agree with suggestions that the quota be hiked to 50 per cent in keeping with the population of women. She would much rather get the 33 per cent first. ``We must be realistic, let's not get very ambitious,'' she told a questioner.

On formation of smaller States, the leader of the Opposition appeared to agree with suggestions that the creation of Vananchal, Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal had ``opened a Pandora's box'', with similar demands coming in from Vidharba and Telangana. She said her party would first like to asses the performance of the three new States before supporting the demand for the creation of more States. On the choice of Chief Minister for Chattisgarh, where the Congress enjoys a majority, she said it would be left to the MLAs.

Mrs. Gandhi also defended her decision to appoint Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as the new PCC chief of West Bengal, saying he was the best option available. She reiterated that her party would not join the proposed grand alliance against the CPI(M) so long as the BJP was part of it. ``There is no way that we will be part of it with them in it''.

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