NEW DELHI, 12 March 2008 — Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday dismissed speculation about early poll and called on her party members to start preparing for scheduled parliamentary elections next year.
“We have a busy election schedule for Vidhan Sabhas (state assembly elections) over the next few months. Inevitably, we have to start preparing for Lok Sabha elections next year. We have a little over a year left of this Parliament,” Sonia said.
Sonia was addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), being held for the first time in the budget session and after election results in three northeastern states — Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.
Describing results in Tripura and Nagaland as “very disappointing, to say the least,” she said: “The simple lesson is that we need harder work and meticulous preparation, more careful selection of candidates and strategies, greater unity and discipline.” Elections are due later this year for state assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. While these states would witness balloting as scheduled, Karnataka may be heading for midterm poll.
With electoral setbacks for the party in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh still weighing on her mind, Sonia is keen on Congress faring well in forthcoming state elections, which may have a significant impact on voters’ verdict in the Lok Sabha poll.
The Congress leader was hopeful that the “truly historic” budget would bring good tidings for the party. “The plain and simple truth is that it is our party and our government that has taken bold measures,” Sonia said.
Asserting that the budget reflects “interests and needs of all sections of our population,” she congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for giving the party a firm sense of self-confidence to take on its political opponents.
“We will go into these polls with an outstanding record of achievements, both in terms of government programs and of legislation enacted. These achievements should earn for us the trust and mandate of the people once again,” Sonia said.
Under Sonia’s leadership, Congress first stormed to power defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance in 2004 elections. Lack of absolute majority led Congress to form the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Due to controversy over her foreign origin, she chose to be the UPA chairperson, while Manmohan Singh was handed the charge of prime minister.
