The Hindu : Front Page : Party guidelines will apply for Lok Sabha election, says Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Party guidelines will apply for Lok Sabha election, says Sonia

Girish Menon

‘Callousness of LDF government hits beneficiaries of Central schemes’

Photo: PTI

Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the delegates’ session of the party’s State conference in Kochi on Tuesday. —

Kochi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said the party will implement the A.K. Antony Committee’s guidelines on how it should prepare for the Lok Sabha and various Assembly elections.

Addressing the delegates session of a three-day State conference of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee here on Tuesday, Mrs. Gandhi said the Antony committee which had submitted its report on the basis of the Assembly election reverses in Karnataka had submitted a set of guidelines and suggestions on how the party should prepare for the coming Lok Sabha elections and subsequent elections to State Assemblies.

She said that Pradesh Congress Committees and All India Congress Committee general secretaries had been informed about the guidelines, which would focus on the party’s interests on a continuing basis. The emphasis would not be on individual’s success, but on the success of each and every single party worker, she said.

Central programmes

Mrs. Gandhi accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of taking credit for everything that the United Progressive Alliance government had done for Kerala. The party leadership in the State should expose the failures of the LDF government in implementing national programmes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and the Farmers’ Loan Waiver Scheme. While most Congress-ruled States took advantage of these programmes, the ‘callousness’ of the LDF government had prevented the people of the State from benefiting from these programmes.

She criticised the LDF rule for its attempt to suppress democratic dissent. She said the basis of democratic functioning was the respect for the views of the Opposition. Terming it as a dangerous trend, she accused the LDF government of indulging in political vendetta, misuse of power and harassment of the media. She said the Congress and the United Democratic Front’s good show in various byelections to local bodies was an indication of the mood of the people, who were fed up with the LDF rule and aspired for a change. The LDF, she said, was a divided house and the internal conflicts had been completely exposed. As a result, the State administration was paralysed, hurting the people of Kerala.

Wayanad package

Mrs. Gandhi referred to the various projects and schemes that the Centre had sanctioned for Kerala relating to ports, infrastructure development, and revival of plantations. She said the Centre would soon sanction a Wayanad package as a follow-up to the Idukki and Kuttanad packages.

Referring to the Centre’s new initiative to tackle terrorism in the backdrop of the Mumbai attack, Mrs. Gandhi said that as a follow-up of the Union Cabinet’s decision to set up a national investigating agency, new laws had been proposed to deal with terrorism.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page