Sonia Gandhi talks, signals, manages government

Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has not spoken for the seven years that the alliance led by her party has been in power. She did not ask any question, she did not make any intervention. She has been quiet but she was present except during the monsoon session last year when she was away in the US for treatment.

But in the last few days, during the first part of the budget session, Gandhi was seen actively managing the party’s arrangement with the allies on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. She was also involved in getting the unanimous House resolution on the comments made on parliamentarians at the Anna Hazare protest on March 25 at Jantar Mantar in the national capital.

Sitting in the first row, third place after that of prime minister Manmohan Singh and leader of the House and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, she would exchange a word with Mukherjee once in a while. Many a time, Mukherjee would lean back and could be seen explaining to an attentive Gandhi. There are times when NCP president and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who sits in fourth place next to her, would explain to her something during Question Hour. Or it could be home minister P Chidambaram who would turn and have a word with her.

Gandhi also sat not just through the Question Hour from 11am to noon, but also through some of the discussions in the afternoon. She was present most of time through the discussion on Motions of Thanks to the President’s Address.

In the last week, some of the Congress MPs began to come to her seat to have a word with her. Recently, Congress MP from Rajasthan Jyoti Mirdha came to Gandhi’s seat, bent towards to have a word. Always conscious of propriety, Gandhi did not want Mirdha to be continually showing her back to the Speaker’s seat. So she moved and askd Mirdha to sit next to her and chat.

Immediately, another Congress MP from Mumbai, Sanjay Nirupam, came to talk to her. She did not want him to stand with his back to the Speaker, and when he tried to sit in Mukherjee’s seat, she asked him not to. He had to adjust himself into the narrow space between Mukherjee’s and Gandhi’s seat and talk to her.

During the passing of the Motion of Thanks, she was seen sending minister for parliamentary affairs Pawan Bansal to Shailender Singh of the Samajwad Party (SP). Singh did not press his amendment about the National Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

Though there seems to have been an earlier agreement that the SP would not embarrass the government post-UP poll, she did not want to take things for granted.

Gandhi was also quite active during the passing of the House resolution on the statements made against parliamentarians at Anna Hazare’s Marcxh 25 protest at Jantar Mantar in the national capital. She talked to Bansal, to Chidambaram and to Mukherjee.

Pawar went over to BJP side and chatted with LK Advani and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj. It was then that Bansal went over to Swaraj. 

Gandhi is seen active as never before in the House, talking and quietly managing party colleagues and ministers in government. There was the rare moment during winter session when Rahul Gandhi came and sat with her and party MPs hovered around.

There was the unmistakable expression of joy in her face. This time round she was one her own, more at home in managing through quiet gestures of communication.