A fortnight away from Assembly elections in four party-ruled states, an upbeat Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today indicated that the poll results would decide whether or not the party will press for snap polls. Speaking at the Iftar she hosted, which turned into an impromptu press conference that was off-camera, Sonia unwound from the hectic pace of ticket distribution. Answering a question on whether Congress would consider calling for snap polls, she said: ‘‘Let us wait for December 4 (the day of counting of votes).’’ Not side-stepping a single question, a relaxed Sonia gave her assessment of the states going to elections. ‘‘The surveys show that the Congress is doing well in Delhi and Rajasthan.’’ she said. About Madhya Pradesh, she chose to side with Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s opinion of the prospects of Congress in the state. ‘‘Last elections, Digvijay Singh said he was going to win and I believed him. This elections, I believe him when he says he will win.Earlier there was a problem with electricity but we have overcome that.’’ While the timing of the Iftar had caught a lot of leaders unawares in the midst of Assembly and local body elections, most parties managed to send their representatives. SP’s Amar Singh, BSP’s Rashid Alvi and RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh were there. The new faces were former NDA ministers like Omar Abdullah, Ajit Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan. Among those missing were Mayawati, UP CM Mulayam Singh, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and NCP leader Sharad Pawar. On Mayawati’s absence, Sonia said: ‘‘I talked to her earlier.She is in UP, busy with some elections.’’ On aligning with the BSP, the Congress chief added that it was ‘‘too futuristic’’ to talk about it now. About a Cong-Left alliance, she said: ‘‘The situation is fluid.We’ve said we will work with secular parties and our stand remains the same.’’ On whether Rahul and Priyanka would campaign, she said: ‘‘You must ask them.’’
