NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday called upon those who had left the party to return.
"They would be given due respect and accommodated in appropriate party posts," she said, addressing a function in Madurai where the breakaway Tamil Maanila Congress merged with the parent organisation.
Gandhi, who named TMC president G K Vasan as an All India Congress Committee secretary, recalled how Tamil Nadu was always among the 'top three' states in the country when Congress leader K Kamaraj was the chief minister.
"Today weavers, farmers, and people from every other walk of life are undergoing untold miseries in the state," she said and asked partymen to go to villages and help the people.
She also said that there was a danger of Gujarat-like situation being repeated in other parts of the country.
Earlier, addressing a function in Pondicherry where the Puducherry Makkal Congress, a breakaway group of the TMC led by P Kannan, merged with the parent party, Gandhi said the Centre was 'indifferent and insensible' and had 'no heart' to extend special grants to drought-affected states.
"Not only farmers, but also handloom weavers, traders and industrialists are suffering under the present government," she alleged. Stating that the Congress would raise its voice in Parliament for the rights of Pondicherry, she called upon the people to fight against the 'corrupt' and 'heartless' Centre.
She also launched a breakfast scheme named after late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, covering 75,000 schoolchildren, and congratulated party Chief Minister N Rengaswamy and his Cabinet colleagues for providing good governance.
On her way back to New Delhi, she said, "The BJP came to power after making a lot of promises, but they have not kept anything. As you have seen, the government is steeped in corruption. People are waiting for an alternative, and we are most unhappy with the government."
She, however, would not be drawn into a discussion on the possibilities of a mid-term poll for the Lok Sabha. "It is for the government and the Election Commission to decide," she said. "As soon as there is an election, I am confident that the people will give a positive verdict for the Congress."
When asked whether the Congress would go it alone in Tamil Nadu, she parried the question. "We have become a stronger after the merger of the TMC. We are now growing from strength to strength, and that is the idea."
ALSO READ Congress-TMC merger on Wednesday
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
