Sonia lowers N-pitch

NEW DELHI: After the Left lowered the pitch on Monday, the Congress chimed in on Tuesday to dispel talk of an immediate threat to the Manmohan Singh government.

No less a person than Sonia Gandhi sought to send a reassuring signal all the way from New York, saying the Left-UPA differences on the nuclear deal were not a cause for “alarm”.

It was an innocuous paragraph in her speech to the Indian-American community in the US, but loaded with meaning. “Sometimes a great deal is made in the public domain of the opinions expressed by our friends who support our coalition but this should not alarm you. We believe that it is important to listen to all points of view because we believe that this only strengthens the democratic process and the process to arrive at a consensus,’’ she told the gathering in New York on Monday evening.

Gandhi’s talk of a ``consensus’’ is the first by a Congress leader after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivered his ``take it or leave it’’ challenge to the Left in an interview in August.