Sonia's entry a shot in the arm for Congress
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Congress President Sitaram Kesri's announcement today that Sonia Gandhi would be campaigning for the party in the impending Lok Sabha poll appears to have given the party a shot in the arm.
"Our prayers have been answered... The other parties would better watch out," said Major Ved Prakash, a Congress leader.
Kesri had said that many party workers from across the country had requested Sonia to take an active interest in party affairs at this crucial phase and that she had acceded to the requests.
In his office, later, the party chief emphasised that he had often requested Sonia to take up the reins and he was happy she had finally agreed. Kesri, however, answering a reporter's query, said the question of who would eventually lead the party could be decided after the elections, when the Congress parliamentary party met.
Asked if the party leadership would take back those Congress members who had recently left the party now that Gandhi had stepped in, Kesri refused to comment. But he said he was relieved that the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had joined the party.
The party chief had taken his own time to inform the media that she had acceded to the pleas for help. It was also clear that Kesri, for the time being, is compelled to welcome Sonia, though her entry is bound to threaten his leadership.
But, asked whether Gandhi's entry has aided the party's cause, he said, "I have always maintained that the party has been weakened whenever it has delinked itself from the Gandhi-Nehru family." He refused to answer other questions, emphasising that he would soon be summoning a media conference.
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