Pranab, Azad to meet Jayalalitha

By Javed M Ansari

NEW DELHI FEB 16. The Congress president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, today said she would send the CWC members, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad as her emissaries to confer with the AIADMK chief, Ms. Jayalalitha. Speaking to newspersons over dinner, Mrs. Gandhi said though the AIADMK continued to be an ally as of now ``the party had certain concerns'' which had to be taken care of.

Mrs. Gandhi mingled freely with the media, confidently dealing with a volley of questions on issues ranging from the future of the alliance with Ms. Jayalalitha, the grand alliance against the CPI(M) in West Bengal, parliamentary tactics, quake in Gujarat, to Priyanka's baby and her interactions with leaders of other opposition party's.

Predictably most of the questions related to the position her party would adopt in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the Congress president was concise in her articulation. On West Bengal, she was categorical that the party ``would have absolutely nothing to do with the BJP directly or indirectly.'' She was also keen on dispelling the impression that a majority of her MLAs in the State favored the idea of a `mahajot' or a grand alliance. ``There are different views in the party we have been talking to them and trying to get their impressions of the issue and also a feel of ground realities, but those things be as it may one thing is clear the Congress party will not have anything to do with the BJP,'' she said.

Having returned just a few days back from an extensive tour of quake hit Gujarat, the Congress president said some of things that she had seen there and was told about were an eye opener. She recalled how while visiting some villages near Bhuj, people belonging to the minority community had complained to her of how they were being denied relief on communal grounds.

She said she was shocked to learn that people were being forced to raise slogans in favor of a particular religion before being given relief. The Congress president said she would be taking up these issues with the Prime Minister at the meeting of the Disaster committee. ``This is of great concern to us, we should never allow such things to come in the way of the relief and rehabilitation efforts,'' she said. Mrs. Gandhi said there was a difference in the manner in which the Government had reacted at the time of the cyclone in Orissa and its reaction to Gujarat. She pointed out that ``the government has given a blank cheque to Gujarat but this was not the case in Orissa.''

On the Budget session of Parliament, Mrs Gandhi said her party had shortlisted several issues which were of concern to the people. ``We will take them up vigorously,'' she said. Asked if she planned to convene a meeting of the leaders of opposition to formulate a joint strategy for the session, Mrs. Gandhi said ``I have been meeting leaders of different political parties from time and plan to continue doing so.'' Asked pointedly if she had also been interacting with Mr. Sharad Pawar she was quick to reply, ``I haven't seen the NCP leader lately.''

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