The United Progressive Alliance will win the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Congress president Sonia Gandhi averred on Saturday, even as she said the government’s aim was to complete its tenure before calling elections.
Talking informally to journalists after the inauguration of the National Media Centre (NMC) here, she also expressed the hope that the Food Security Billwould be passed in the current session of Parliament.
Asked whether UPA-III would be a reality, a confident Ms. Gandhi said: “Certainly, 100 per cent ... obviously.” What was the USP of the UPA that would bring it back to power? “We have given so many rights [to the people] — the right to information, the right to education and now the right to food — [this] is our USP.”
Ms. Gandhi appeared unhurried and relaxed as she took a series of questions, before she left for Parliament House. Indeed, most journalists were surprised when she joined them for tea after the inaugural function at the NMC.
The Congress president initially tried to dodge a question whether the Congress would announce elections after it passed landmark legislation such as the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill. “I cannot say anything,” she remarked. But when journalists persisted, she said, “Our aim is to go till the very end [of the government's tenure].”
She expressed concern over the gruesome gang rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai two days ago. “It is a heinous crime ... It should not have happened,” she sa
