Sonia gets back to work

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who didn’t meet the many concerned Congressmen and women while in hospital, signalled she was back at work on Wednesday by holding discussions with all AICC general secretaries and senior office bearers.

While discussion of pending business was the official agenda for the meeting, it was really an opportunity for Congress leaders, who were all asked not to visit Ms Gandhi in hospital, to make a courtesy call to find out about her health.

The leaders were requested not to get bouquets or flowers, as this could prove harmful for Ms Gandhi who suffered a mild asthma attack in the last week of December, along with a chest infection, that led her hospitalisation. Ms Gandhi was reported to be pale but cheerful throughout the meeting.

A Congress leader narrated that one of those attending the meeting joked about outlandish media reports that Congress had reportedly spent Rs 450 crore on the Gujarat campaign.

Some other issues discussed at the meeting, attended by Motilal Vohra, Janardan Dwivedi, Prithviraj Chavhan, B K Haiprasad and Margaret Alva and political secretary Ahmed Patel were concerned with the pressing matters in states. The 35-minute meeting saw Mr Hariprasad, in-charge of Gujarat and Goa, consult Ms Gandhi about the appointment of a Congress Legislature Party leader for the state and appraise her about the re-qualification of 3 Goa MLAs disqualified by the assembly Speaker.

Issues pertaining to poll-bound Karnataka were also briefly mentioned. The Congress has to constitute a campaign committee for Karnataka elections and also take a call on whether or not to accommodate rebels such JD(S) leader M P Prakash. The Congress’ experiment of giving outsiders tickets bombed in Gujarat and it is this lesson that many in the party are bringing up while discussing Karnataka. Issues pertaining to Nagaland and Tripura might also have come up during the meeting.