Leadership from below: Sonia call

By Our Staff Correspondent

MOHANKHERA (M.P.), JULY 11. The Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, today said that Congressmen should refrain from running after power and emphasised that they should try to build up a close relationship with intellectuals who can influence people's mandate and build a support base in favour of the Congress party.

Ms. Sonia Gandhi made this assertion while addressing the Seva Dal district officers attending their 10-day (July 5-15) all- India Training camp being organized here.

Mrs. Gandhi reiterated what she had recently said while addressing Congressmen at the Madhya Pradesh Congress convention at Jabalpur and stressed the importance of grass-root level workers.

The Congress leader said that both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were determined to give a new direction and strove to strengthen Seva Dal. It is time for a new beginning, she said adding that efforts should be made to allow leadership to grow from below. She particularly said that Seva Dal can become an example for future generations.

She gave a call to the Seva Dal workers to spread the Congress message from door to door across the country, Seva Dal, Mrs. Gandhi said, is known for its discipline. She particularly urged Congressmen to remain committed to the Congress ideologies.

Mrs. Gandhi's emphasis on the ``important role of Seva Dal'' is particularly significant since it comes simultaneously with the massive drive just initiated to enroll about 50 lakh Seva Dal volunteers all over the country.

Later this afternoon, addressing a mammoth public meeting at Rajgarh, also in Dhar district, Mrs. Gandhi was all praise for the Digvijay Singh Government and its successful initiatives in terms of decentralization of power, watershed management, universalization of education and more recently the Paani Roko Abhiyan (water conservation campaign) through the Rajiv Gandhi Missions. She particularly praised the Madhya Pradesh Congress Government saying that its has excelled and outperformed all other States in setting up the Panchayati Raj System.

Mrs. Gandhi today launched yet another ambitious scheme-``Swasth Jeevan Seva Guarantee Programme. The Madhya Pradesh Government has launched this programme as a move towards decentralized management of health care in Madhya Pradesh. This programme would be spearheaded by the Rajiv Gandhi Community health Mission. She also laid the foundation stone of Mahavir Pavitra Sarovar Yojna, a Rs. 4 crore irrigation project in Sardarpur tehsil of Dhar district. She laid the foundation through remote control from Rajgarh.

On this occasion, flanked by the Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh and State Minister for Health, Mr. Subhash Sojatiya, Mrs. Gandhi released a special booklet highlighting the water conservation revolution in Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing the public meeting, Mrs. Gandhi lashed out at the BJP- led ruling coalition at the Centre and referring to tehelka said that they have used communalism and corruption to come to power and now we have a scenario where the country's economy is on a slide and the common man is being made to suffer. She held the policies of the BJP-led coalition responsible for destroying trade and commerce.

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