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Cheerleaders for Sonia swing into action

Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Sat Mahajan today expressed full faith and confidence in the leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi.

Mahajan criticised Congress leaders opposed to Sonia's candidature for the prime ministership, saying these persons were playing into the hands of the BJP.

Mahajan claimed that it was due to the dynamic leadership of Sonia that the Congress was able to win assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

He said there was no doubt about her Indian citizenship, as her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi was solemnised as per Hindu rituals. Sonia belongs to the Nehru family and is a real Indian like any other citizen of India, he added.

Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker Srinivas Tiwari today said Sonia Gandhi was the ''undisputed'' leader of the Congress and would be projected as the next prime minister during the elections.

No individual or group of people could decide such matters, he said commenting on the three senior CWC members' move seeking a constitutional amendment to ensure that the nation's three highest offices can be held only by born Indian citizens.

He said the party was fully behind Sonia and would work unitedly under her leadership to win the Lok Sabha polls.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Shyama Charan Shukla today said he fully supported the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.

''I am fully with her ,'' he said and regretted that in this hour of challenge , some party leaders members have chosen to create a controversy.

The entire Congress in Tamil Nadu is solidly behind Sonia Gandhi, TNCC president Tindivanam K Ramamurthy said.

He demanded action against the three leaders -- Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar -- for their open letter.

Talking to newsmen after an emergency meeting of party office bearers Ramamurthy said this "anti-party" activity by the three senior leaders was in furtherance of a "conspiracy" hatched by those like the Samajwadi Party because they could not form a third front after the fall of the BJP-led coalition at the Centre.

Even the BJP has now decided not to play up the foreign origin issue, he pointed out.

Asked whether Pawar sought the AIADMK's support on the foreigner issue when he met Jayalalitha in Madras recently, Ramamurthy said this could not have been possible as Pawar was sent by Sonia for the the specific purpose of exploring an alliance with that party.

The AIADMK may have criticised Sonia as a "foreigner" in the past, but it was not doing so now, he said.

Ramamurthy said even the Shankaracharya of Kanchi had said that Sonia belonged to a Hindu family and she need not be seen as a "foreigner".

Answering a question, Ramamurthy denied that the issue would affect the party's electoral prospects.

He said it was only after repeated appeals from several partymen that Sonia took over the party leadership and gave a fresh lease of life to the party. She enabled it to win the assembly elections in four states in November last.

All India Congress Committee member T N Narasimha Murthy today demanded the expulsion of the three CWC members.

He told newsmen in Mysore that the three leaders had tarnished the party's image and disrespected the party high command by opposing the projection of Sonia as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader S Bangarappa refused to comment on the issue saying that the CWC was meeting at Delhi today to discuss the issue.

Replying to a question, he said people of Indian origin were members of the House of Commons in England.

The Karnataka Congress Legislature Party today urged the party high command to reject the demand put forth by the three CWC members and take appropriate action against "such individuals who are playing into the hands of the BJP.''

Opposition leader in the assembly Mallikarjun Kharge, in a press release in Bangalore said the KCLP had resolved to work in the coming elections for installing a Congress government headed by Sonia Gandhi at the Centre.

In Bombay, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Rajiv Chavan recalled that it was Pawar who had issued a statement from Varanasi when the BJP government was collapsing stating that Sonia will be the Congress prime minister. The entire episode looks like these leaders have signed the agenda prepared by the RSS , he said.

The MPPC general secretary reminded those who were raising the 'foreigner' issue that this country has always saluted martyrdom and sacrifices made on behalf of the people. ''Those who are attacking Sonia Gandhi have never shed a drop of blood for the sake of Bharat'', he added.

He added that those who want to get enamoured by the BJP's rhetoric may do so but should refrain from counselling Congressmen who firmly stand by Sonia Gandhi.

Former Union minister and Congressman Kalpnath Rai today felt that the move of senior party leader Sharad Pawar in opposing the candidature of Sonia Gandhi as prime minister is influenced by the propaganda of the BJP and RSS and said that the Sonia wave will sweep away all rivals in the ensuing mid-term polls.

He added that Pawar had earlier endorsed Sonia's candidature as prime minister of the country. ''He is a senior leader and we respect him. But he should know his own limits,'' he said.

''Under P V Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri the party was on the verge of collapse, but Soniaji rejuvenated the party,'' Rai said.

Only after millions of countrymen and party workers requested her to take over the reins of the party, did Sonia join active politics, he said adding that she is the most suitable candidate for prime ministership.

Senior Congress leaders from the north-eastern states today expressed full faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and said she has made the party vibrant and strong.

The issues raised by Sharad Pawar and others are unfortunate and ill-timed, they said in a joint statement. ''Elections are approaching and the need of the hour is complete unity to improve electoral prospects.''

Former Union minister Matang Singh, a Narasimha Rao loyalist, is the first signatory to the statement. Other signatories are Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Miti, Arunachal PCC president T Mukuli, Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister D D Lapang, former Tripura Chief Minister S R Majumdar, Tripura Congress Legislature Party leader S R Burman, K Bhattacharya, MP, B Kalita, former MP from Assam, Hiphei, MP from Mizoram and Ichalempa, former MP from Nagaland.

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Seva Dal chairman Maulin Vaishnav today regretted the act of three CWC members and demanded appropriate action against them.

He said this is an attempt to sabotage democracy and added that it is the right of the citizens of the country to decide who will be prime minister.

Mumbai Congress chief Murli Deora has termed the actions of senior party colleague Sharad Pawar a great betrayal and said that the act amounts to gross indiscipline.

He said it was Pawar who had unambiguously held all the while that Sonia Gandhi alone would be the party's prime ministerial candidate.

Even in recent weeks, he had gone on record in public, maintaining this stance. What has motivated Pawar to adopt this sudden somersault, he wondered.

Reacting to the four-page letter to Sonia Gandhi from Pawar and Co, senior leader and permanent invitee to the CWC, K Karunakaran said in Kochi that the question of who should be the prime minister would be decided by the Congress Parliamentary Party and the party high command after the elections.

"Soniaji is the undisputed leader of the Congress and nobody can question her leadership. She alone will lead the party in the coming elections and the Congress is confident of forming the next government at the Centre," he added.

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has also backed party president Sonia Gandhi against the revolt of the three CWC members.

In a resolution adopted at a joint meeting of the KPCC office bearers and district Congress committee presidents on Monday it was decided to rally all congressmen in the state behind her to lead the Congress fight against communal forces at a time when the country was passing through its greatest crisis since independence.

The resolution said that Sonia Gandhi was made the Congress president with the firm faith that the Nehru heir would be able to strengthen the party and protect the unity and secular character of the country.

After she took up the leadership the party got a new lease of life and the foundations of the BJP has started shaking, the resolution claimed.

Former Congress minister C V Padmarajan said that the issue raised by the three senior Congress leaders was quite inopportune. This would only help the party's enemies at a time when the Congress was preparing itself to defeat them. He said that party men in Kerala would rally strongly behind Sonia Gandhi.

The State Youth Congress president K C Venugopal said that the action of the three senior leaders amounted to anti-party activity and urged the CWC to take stern action against them.

He said that the issue raised by them would confuse party workers and make the party weak. He remarked that it was quite unfortunate that the senior leaders were echoing the words of its enemies.

UNI; with additional reporting by D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

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