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Journalism of Courage
She was among the first callers to wish BSP chief Mayawati on her 47th birthday today but the icing on Sonia Gandhi’s cake was the 50-minute meeting with her erstwhile bete noire Sharad Pawar after which she emerged smiling—and with reason.
NCP chief Pawar, who had walked out of the Congress in June 1999 on the issue of Sonia’s foreign origins, tried to make light of it this evening by saying ‘‘this issue is not going to be raised at this juncture.’’ Echoing Sonia’s statement that the Congress and NCP had decided to work together to find a ‘‘viable alternative’’ to the NDA regime, Pawar added, ‘‘When you sit together then you have to leave out certain issues.’’
For Sonia, reaching out had been the day’s theme. Her Happy Birthday to Mayawati is a gesture, the Congress hopes, that may influence the BSP’s decision tomorrow on who to ally with in the elections.
The Congress chief also addressed public meetings in Punjab through the day as part of her efforts to ‘‘directly reach out to the people.’’ And then she spoke to DMK chief Karunanidhi this morning to wish him on the occasion of ‘‘Pongal’’ and firm up the alliance in Tamil Nadu.
But all eyes and ears were on her tea with Pawar. The length of their meeting and the body language of the two leaders indicated that despite internal differences within the NCP over tying up with Congress, Pawar had decided to go ahead with alliance.
Describing the meeting as ‘‘very positive,’’ Sonia said they had had ‘‘a long discussion’’ about ‘‘prospects in the coming elections, of us coming together’’ as well bringing on board ‘‘like-minded parties’’ to take on the BJP-led combine. Pawar said the ‘‘process (of working together and building a viable alternative) has started.’’
Indicating he still had to get around his recalcitrant colleagues on board, he said, ‘‘Baat karni padegi saathiyon ke saath’’ (We have to talk to our colleagues.) But in face of questions, both Pawar and Sonia underlined that the process of alliance-building had got off to a good start.
Without spelling out details, they indicated that the Congress-NCP alliance would be part of a bigger all-India platform. Pawar, in particular, repeated the phrase ‘‘viable alternative’’ more than once.
Meanwhile, his statement that Sonia’s foreign origins would not be raised ‘‘at this juncture’’ can be interpreted in two ways, sources said. When the NCP decided to join hands with the Congress to form the Maharashtra government, Pawar had said the issue would be relevant only in the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, his decision to set it aside ‘‘at this juncture’’ implies a climbdown, Congressmen feel. However, it could also be interpreted to mean that while Pawar is ready for a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for electoral considerations today, the NCP may once again raise the issue in case the ‘‘secular alliance’’ wins enough seats to form the next government.
