Rahul to address meet today

Reflecting the expectations and the inevitability of a next-generation leader rising from the Gandhi family, Union I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi today made a strong case for Rahul Gandhi to play a greater role in Congress affairs.

"We need a torch-bearer, a leader to show us the right path in the future. We need the second-generation leadership that can take forward the ideals of the age-old Congress," he told partymen at the Congress plenary session here while appealing to Rahul Gandhi to take the mantle of his father.

Earlier, the plenary meeting witnessed high drama enacted by a group of delegates sitting in the front rows. They raised slogans in favour of Rahul Gandhi, demanding that he address the meeting. They calmed down only after Rahul assured that he would speak at the session tomorrow.

Playing a perfect Congressman, Dasmunshi lamented the fate of Congressmen in West Bengal. While Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh spoke mildly of the need for the Congress to protect its own interests in the forthcoming elections in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, Dasmunshi asserted that the Left parties had no choice but to support the progressive policies of the UPA government.

"They kill our cadres, put them behind bars. Still our party has survived the onslaught on the strength of its ideology," he said while asking the party to take a more assertive stand in the Left-ruled states without succumbing to the pressures of the central coalition.

Introducing the political resolution, Arjun Singh said the party had to work on its own to strengthen itself in the coming elections. "In many parts of the country, our party is not visible. This is not a good trend. We should bring back our party to power in those places through struggle and total unity," he said.

Even though Sonia Gandhi, in her introductory remarks, advised the leaders against praising her in their speeches, all the leaders, including Arjun Singh, Vayalar Ravi and Dasmunshi, who spoke on the political resolution, paid rich tributes to her for her sacrifice and leadership.

Speaking at a press conference, Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said there was nothing wrong in trying to regain the lost ground in Communist bastion even while maintaining the relations with the Left and others in the UPA. "Every party does the same," he said.