Sonia Gandhi draws flak from Congress

NEW DELHI: In an implied criticism of party boss Sonia Gandhi's pre-election meeting with the Jama Masjid shahi imam, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has dubbed Syed Ahmed Bukhari as a "communal" man.

Singh told reporters, "I do not consider him (Bukhari) a secular person. I believe Imam Bukhari is a communal person." The remark comes on the heels of Bihar MP Asrarul Haque's criticism of the Bukhari-Sonia meeting in April which was followed by the Delhi-based cleric's appeal to Muslims that they should vote for Congress. The appeal triggered a controversy.

In what is seen as a direct jibe at Sonia, Haque, according to reports, said, "The meeting should not have happened and it was wrong on the part of the Congress party to issue an appeal to one community." Digvijaya's comment was seen as endorsing the disapproval of Sonia's poll-time outreach.

The meeting, which BJP used to accuse Congress of playing "appeasement" politics, has been controversial because many in the party feel it helped the saffron camp to polarize voters in its favour.

Now, the public criticism from within is likely to embarrass the leadership much more than the attacks from BJP, especially when it has come from a Muslim MP, as also a senior Congress general secretary.

Critically, it marks the first instance of Sonia facing fire for the election debacle or related issues; the anger among party men till now was directed against her son and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi. In the last week, Congress has had to suspend two senior leaders in Kerala and Rajasthan for slamming Rahul.

That it should come after the Gandhi family duo accepted moral responsibility for the defeat and even offered to resign at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee showed that it may be some time before things settle down in the Congress camp.

AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala disapproved of the spate of public comments against the leadership, urging party men to exercise restraint. Referring to Sonia's speech to the parliamentary party on May 24, he said the party chief had asked workers not to indulge in public acrimony and instead discuss issues in party forums.