Cong readies to cash in on Sonia 'sacrifice'

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's latest "sacrifice" is set to have a bearing on the coming Assembly elections with the party gearing up to exploit it to the hilt.

Senior AICC office-bearers, including Ashok Gehlot, Janardan Dwivedi, BK Hari Prasad and Ahmed Patel, political advisor to the Congress president, met at the party headquarters today to plan "how to spread the message of her sacrifice" across the country, especially in poll-bound states, said party sources.

The party will not launch any formal programme. "The message will be spread by party cadres. What's the need for a formal campaign? Everybody is watching it," said an AICC general secretary.

Sonia's latest move will give a much-needed impetus to the party's campaign, especially in West Bengal, where the Congress' failure to ink an alliance with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress has demoralised a large section of party workers.

"When Soniaji campaigns in the states, people will compare her actions with other party leaders who are sticking to their chairs," said a Congress leader, hinting at the CPI(M), which has rejected the possibility of the resignation of its MPs.

Sonia's resignation would be "particularly effective" in Uttar Pradesh where the Samajwadi Party government had gone out of the way to protect those occupying such offices, said Congress leaders.

Meanwhile, the fate of several state governments hangs in the balance. In Jharkhand, for instance, faced with a majority of just one MLA, Chief Minister Arjun Munda liberally distributed chairmanships of various development boards to MLAs in his camp.

Yesterday, the Jharkhand Assembly, in a matter of hours, passed a law legitimising offices of profit. If the Election Commission swings into action and rules that MLAs who held posts prior to the law coming into force should be disqualified, the Jharkhand government is likely to fall.

The Goa Assembly, unstable at the best of times, may also face some uncertainty.

The same applies to Haryana and Andhra Pradesh assemblies. Having got a brute majority in both these states, the Congress had to distribute posts to its MLAs to keep them happy, as not all of them could be made ministers.