We are with you: Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 3. The Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has sent Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the AICC(I) general secretaries, to Bangalore, to assure the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, that he had the full support of the party's central leadership in handling the difficult situation arising out of the kidnapping of the Kannada icon, Mr. Rajkumar, by brigand Veerappan.

The decision to send Mr. Azad on a reassuring mission came after an informal meeting of the Congress(I) Working Committee on Friday night, in the wake of the Supreme Court's adverse comments on the Krishna Government's handling of the crisis.

The consensus at the meeting was that a very delicate situation had arisen after the apex court's direction (staying the release of Veerappan ``aides'' as part of the proposed package for the release of Mr. Rajkumar). The members felt that it was all the more necessary that the Chief Minister should have a free hand to deal with the problem; moreover, the Chief Minister should know that he had the full backing of the party's central leadership.

Mr. Azad's mission was to tell the Chief Minister that he had the full confidence of the Working Committee. The message was reinforced this morning when senior party member, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, is reported to have telephonically spoken to Mr. Krishna; the bottomline being ``we are with you''. Other members have also spoken to the Chief Minister, offering him the benefit of their long ministerial experience at the Centre.

The informal session of the CWC was attended, among others, by Mr. Mukherjee, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. R.K. Dhawan, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, Mr. Oscar Fernandes and Ms. Ambika Soni. Except Mr. Dhawan, who thought Mr. Krishna had not proved equal to the Veerappan-induced crisis, most members were supportive of the Chief Minister and were appreciative of the difficult choices before him.

The ``vote of confidence'' by the CWC for the Chief Minister becomes important given that in the post-kidnapping days there has been virtually no communication between Mr. Krishna and the Ms. Sonia Gandhi. And, in the Congress(I) way of doing things, this absence of communication was being seized upon by the Chief Minister's detractors to start a whispering campaign.

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