Congress will stage a comeback on its own, says Kesri

The Congress will go it alone in the next election was party president Sitaram Kesri's main thrust in an impromptu media briefing in Sultanpur on Wednesday evening.

"I am confident we will be able to win the election and come back to power entirely on our own," Kesri averred.

When reminded that Samajwadi Party president and Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had in a recent statement favoured an alliance between his party and the Congress, Kesri said, "Well, that might be his proposal, but it is not ours, we are not considering it at all."

Kesri was in the city to install a statue of the late Rajiv Gandhi at a prominent crossroads. And, in the process, to end a controversy that nearly precipitated a head on clash between the Congress and the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in the state. The crux of the controversy lay in the fact that an older statue, of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar, stands close to the site of the Rajiv statue. Initially, the Mayawati government in the state threw up many roadblocks to the erection of a Rajiv statue at the site, before succumbing to pressure from New Delhi and permitting the Congress to go ahead.

The controversy, more perhaps than the unveiling of yet another statue, drew top Congress leaders of the ilk of Kesri, Jitendra Prasada and Satish Sharma to the venue -- an obvious attempt to score political brownie points from the BSP. Interestingly, even as Kesri exhorted his partymen to strengthen the party, the state Congress unit put up a show characterised by total mismanagement.

Meanwhile, back to the media briefing, and Kesri's argument in favour of his party's go-it-alone policy. "Firstly, I feel the time has come for the Congress to re-emerge as a national party in its own right; secondly, because there is no other party which has not, at some stage or the other, aligned with communal parties against which the Congress alone has the distinction of putting up a concerned front," said the Congress boss.

Did he class Mulayam Yadav and his outfit in the above definition? "I have made it very clear that it includes each and every political party," Kesri snapped back.

Describing the Congress as the only non-casteist party today, Kesri said his own elevation to the top slot was indication enough of that, given that the caste to which he belongs does not enjoy much numerical strength.

No press briefing with a top Congress functionary these days is complete without a question or three on Sonia Gandhi. Kesri got his due share, being asked specifically if he would step down in the event she stepped out into the limelight. "I have already said that I will give up any position if Soniaji decides to take the plunge into active politics. That will be a great day for the Congress."

Kesri was equally forthright about the other big one - how much longer his party would continue to prop up the minority United Front government in New Delhi. "We will continue to support them till we are sure we can return to power on our own," he said, adding, on a smile, "Perhaps they will get the opportunity to hoist the national flag one more time."