In city, Sonia refuses to join issue with Raje

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday visited the sites of Tuesday’s serial blasts in Jaipur and later met victims at the Sawai Mansingh hospital here. Under attack from Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for not doing anything for Rajasthan, the Congress president refrained from making any public comment during her visit.

Raje had on Wednesday said in an interview to The Indian Express that she saw no point in the Congress president’s visit as the latter had failed to use her clout at the Centre to get any relief for the people in Rajasthan in the past. Last year, Sonia had visited the state after the devastating floods. The Rajasthan Government had then demanded Rs 3,200 crore from the Centre for relief and rehabilitation, but was disappointed. The Congress president had earlier gone to the tribal district of Banswara, but offered little help to the poor tribals, the CM claimed. In this backdrop, Raje called it “inappropriate” for Sonia to visit the state to score some “political point” at a time when it was still recovering from the shocking serial blasts.

Congress sources, however, pointed out that Sonia’s silence should not be misconstrued as her reluctance to join issues with the BJP Government in the state. They argued that Sonia hardly ever spoke while visiting a place struck by tragedy.

Shivraj Patil, who accompanied Sonia, also made no attempt to address Rajasthan Government’s charge that the Centre had not communicated any specific intelligence inputs to the state as claimed by his deputy Sriprakash Jaiswal. Patil was also silent about the Rajasthan CM’s demand for a Chief Ministers’ meeting on internal security. Union Minister Namonarayan Meena and AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot also accompanied Sonia.