Sonia's 'shock absorber' has Cong divided

"For every Kamal Nath, who is pro-reform, there is a Jairam Ramesh in the party to put the other view across. That is the truth about the Congress, in the time of the UPA," said a senior minister explaining the reason why Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter sounding a warning bell on the entry of foreign direct investment in the retail sector.

The party, it appears, has both sides evenly matched and the policy formulations and digressions is a sign of the deep divide within the party on major economic and social policy matters. Thus there is a section of the Congress which is applauding the letter, while the other is not so comfortable with it.

Signs of this divide have been evident for long. In fact, a senior Cabinet minister said that even on the matter of Special Economic Zones, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had been asked to bide his time by several of his not so laissez faire colleagues.

Gandhi's own stand on economic policy and the reform process is explained by senior Cabinet ministers as a "shock absorber" approach.

"Mrs Gandhi rightly feels that an about turn or volte face by the Congress party on economic policies that have seen a continuum from Nehru, to Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi will not be accepted by the people," said the minister.

"This letter is a way of expressing that aspect of Congress' political compulsions," added the minister.

"It is better for Mrs Gandhi to have expressed these issues before the door to FDI was to be opened, because as we all know once the door is opened, it is difficult to close it," he added.

Meanwhile, the letter continues to create ripples in political circles. At last count, P J Kurien, Rajya Sabha member from the Congress, had already written to Sonia asking for her intervention in the back-door entry of foreign companies in the retail sector.