May 13 will unveil a new-look Congres-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Regardless of the outcome in the assembly elections in five states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, the Congress has decided to become more aggressive and not give in to ‘opposition bullying’.
With the party expecting the assembly elections to strengthen the UPA, the ‘people’s court argument’ will be heard frequently. After facing an unremitting attack on corruption and government mismanagement for almost six months, the party brass has decided to hit back.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee maintains that the current series of assembly election will be seen by the party as a review of the performance of the UPA at the Centre, and not a touchstone of corruption.
“There is no common issue in the five states where elections are being held. But as a student of politics, I would like to see the elections in the light of the performance of the UPA,” Mukherjee had told Business Standard during his campaign in South India recently.
Party general secretary B K Hariprasad told Business Standard: “The election is an acid test for us (UPA) at the Centre because it will show how far the opposition campaign against us has worked. If we win, it will be a victory in the people’s court. If the results are not in our favour, then we have to revisit our strategies for the next round of assembly elections in 2012.”
The Congress has already started taking steps as part of its turnaround strategy. It has plans to hold a chintan shivir (brainstorming session) next month in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The party had hosted a chief ministers’ conclave at the same venue when it was in the opposition during NDA rule. According to top sources, the session will try to spell out a guideline for party-led state governments for better governance, along with a strategy to counter allegations of “misgovernance and image deficit”.
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The UPA intends to showcase precisely those qualities the opposition says it does not have – decisiveness and speed in decision making. Home Minister P Chidambaram today issued a dossier to Pakistan with the names of 50 most wanted men, including Dawood Ibrahim and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of 26/11.
Without jeopardising the dialogue with Pakistan, the UPA wants to capitalise on the world opinion that Pakistan is the biggest global haven for terror groups. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Afghanistan visit, though planned earlier, is likely to send the same message.
Recognising that the government’s public outreach is woefully inadequate, the government has set up a group of ministers to figure out a way to disseminate cabinet and other government decisions. The UPA government has been unable to stop information haemorrhage and for the first time in history, is going to mull a way to designate spokespersons who will provide newspapers and television with authoritative versions of the government’s viewpoint, modelled on the briefings by spokesmen of the State Department.
The new aggressive posture is a far cry from the mood in the Congress plenary at Burari, where delegates expected to receive leadership from the party brass but found themselves mired in defensive postures. Both party president Sonia Gandhi and Priem Minister Manmohan Singh stressed that the government had done a lot – but the takeaway from the meeting was that corruption was eroding the polity.
The party is also taking a considered view that it will now no longer ask for resignations and summarily sack persons against whom charges are made by the opposition. It will either act preemptively – or defend colleagues, even those in the UPA, if they are attacked for corruption. “There is no end to this: first it was Kalmadi, now it is Sheila Dikshit, then it was Chidambaram, next it will be Mrs Gandhi — enough is enough,” said a supporter of roads minister C P Joshi.
The Congress is conscious that it has to guard its flanks: the next round of elections in 2012 will be in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. These are states where the party is eyeing power. It has to prove it deserves to get to it.