Sonia prepares action plan to unseat Vajpayee
George Iype in New Delhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi initiated formal talks within the party on Monday to chalk out a watertight strategy to form the next government at the Centre.
Sonia, who returned from a three-day trip to Andhra Pradesh on Sunday night, plunged headlong into discussions with senior leaders to formulate a plan of action to embarrass the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government when the Budget session of Parliament resumes on Friday, July 3.
During her AP visit, Sonia categorically stated that the Congress was ready to form the government at the Centre if the Vajpayee government collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions.
That the government is shaky after hundred days is evident, especially after the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership ruled out dismissing the M Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu to pacify its belligerent ally, J Jayalalitha's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Congress sources said Sonia has made up her mind to form a Congress-led, non-BJP government. "But she is yet to finalise the timing of the coup," one Congress leader said.
He said the party strategy is to "embarrass the BJP government to the hilt during the Budget session of Parliament." On Monday, Sonia met senior leaders K Karunakaran, K Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Dr Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee who apprised her how the party should handle the oust-Vajpayee plan during the Budget session.
For the Vajpayee government, the latter half of the Budget session is the most crucial as the money bills have to be discussed and passed. Non-passage of these bills in Parliament will force Vajpayee to resign as prime minister.
The passage of the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on June 1 would not have been difficult, had Jayalalitha not thrown a tantrum over the TN government's dismissal.
"Now that Jayalalitha, with 27 members of Parliament, is on the verge of severing her ties with the BJP, Sonia is being compelled from all quarters to act, and that too swiftly," a Congress general secretary told Rediff On The NeT.
Having announced that the Congress will not shirk away from its responsibility to form a government, Sonia is now on a mission to repair her relations with Jayalalitha and Sharad Pawar.
Sonia has uneasy relations with both Jayalalitha and Pawar, both of whom will be key players in any scheme she prepares.
Congress sources said any successful pact between the two women -- Sonia and
Jayalalitha -- will involve correcting the misgivings that the compulsions of realpolitik have forced on them.
When Sonia plunged into the Congress campaign for the general election in January, Jayalalitha severely criticised her. The AIADMK chief questioned the
competence of "the Italian-born Sonia" to lead the country, stating that the people would not accept her because of her alien background.
Since then both women have not been on talking terms. But two weeks back, as her disenchantment with the
BJP reached its peak, the AIADMK chief indirectly praised Sonia by praising her late husband Rajiv
Gandhi. Jayalalitha said in Madras that Rajiv, with 400 seats in Parliament, had not treated the AIADMK as badly
as Vajpayee had done.
"Both Sonia and Jayalalitha are now on good terms. I do not think there is any personal enmity between them,"
says Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, who is mediating between the Congress and AIADMK.
"Things are moving swiftly and I feel this will be the first and last Budget session of the Vajpayee
government," Dr Swamy told Rediff On The NeT.
Party leaders feel before she embarks on her oust-Vajpayee mission, Sonia will enter into a truce with Pawar. Relations between the two leaders have not been hunky dory after Congress candidate Ram Pradhan was defeated in the Maharashtra Rajya Sabha election on June 18.
Though Sonia served a showcause notice on Pawar loyalist, Praful Patel, sources said the MP from Bhandara will be let off the hook in an attempt to pacify Pawar. Pawar, who is in London, will return to Delhi on Thursday.
While Congress strategists are making their moves to dislodge the government, BJP leader and Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh is expected to visit Madras in a day or two with a new
package to smoothen the strained relationship with the AIADMK.
Sources said the new package includes promises to take action against Sun TV, which is owned by
Karunanidhi's nephew, former industry miinister Murasoli Maran, and investigations into the past actions of former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Tamil Manila Congress ministers.
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