With Rahul Gandhi under fire, Congress to take BJP head-on

As the Congress party meets for its 83rd plenary session today, it is expected to sharpen its political attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its affiliates on the terror issue.

The party’s political resolution is likely to include a direct reference to RSS and terror in the same breath, asking the government to probe the terror links of right-wing groups like the RSS.

After the embarrassing WikiLeaks reports surfaced Friday, the party is in a retaliatory mode and this was clearly reflected in the tone and tenor of the discussions that took place at a four-hour-long closed door meeting of the subjects committee presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Participants disclosed that veterans referred to a pattern in the opposition’s attack on the Congress and the ruling UPA coalition led by it.

“The party has the benefit of institutional memory, and there are people who have been witnesses and participants to the events in the 70s, 80s, and the 90s when the bogey of corruption and identity was raised by the non-Congress parties merely for political ends. The problem is that in the past the party blinked, but this time we have decided to take them head on,” said a senior MP.  

Quite obviously, the ghost of Bofors continues to haunt the party from the mid-80s. A view has firmed up in the party that yielding to the JPC demand on Bofors was a big mistake, as it gave the opposition a handle to beat the Congress.

“They keep on using it till today, although nothing has ever been proved against Rajiv Gandhi,” said a senior leader.

A three-pronged strategy is on the anvil: to expose the terror links of the RSS and its affiliates, to go hard at the BJP leaders involved in corruption and to unequivocally fight cross-border terrorism. This would be reflected in the political resolution to be discussed at the plenary session today. In dealing with corruption, the party is likely to etch out the contrast between its approach and that of the BJP while dealing with specific cases involving politicians in power.

The subjects committee also gave its nod to three other resolutions - one related to the 125 years of the party, and the other two on economic and foreign affairs respectively.

Whereas the resolution on 125 years of the party is largely a self-congratulatory exercise, the draft on economic affairs focuses largely on the achievements during the UPA regime and the emphasis

on inclusive growth. On foreign affairs, the party is expected to outline its position on neighbours and the emerging global status under the UPA government.

Party sources said that the drafts prepared by 21-member committee chaired by union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee were first circulated to the members, and then after an hour’s break there was a threadbare discussion on all issues in which several participants spoke on more than one occasion.