Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051208270500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Sonia Gandhi's victory gives Congress leaders something to cheer about

Special Correspondent

They are happy that the BJP has suffered setbacks in three States

BANGALORE: There was not much to cheer for the Congress in Karnataka when the results of the Legislative Assembly elections in four States and a Union Territory were announced on Thursday.

The silver lining in the dark clouds for the Congress was the triumph of party president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli and that of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu, led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, of which the Congress is a constituent.

The severe drubbing received by the Congress in Kerala and West Bengal and the poor showing in Assam have made Congress leaders in Karnataka to go in for introspection.

The Congress, which is yet to come to terms with the loss of power in Karnataka, has derived vicarious happiness from the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party has come a cropper in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal.

A good number of Congress leaders in the State were involved in the campaign of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala. Former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily, who is a special member of the Congress Working Committee, was foremost among them. The defeat in Kerala will reduce the influence former Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony wielded in the Congress Bhavan here in his capacity as the All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of the party affairs in the State. No doubt, leaders who campaigned in Tamil Nadu have reason to congratulate themselves. But they are aware that the credit for the victory should go to the DMK and not their party.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, who is in Delhi, called on Ms. Gandhi to congratulate her.