Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday held a meeting with AICC general secretaries and other senior leaders in-charge of different states. It was her first meeting since she was hospitalised due to chest infection on January 1. She was discharged last Sunday.As she resumes work, Sonia has many pending issues at hand to settle. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s detractors have renewed pressure on the party leadership for a change of guard in the state. Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna has also conveyed to the party leadership his desire to return to active politics ahead of Assembly elections in Karnataka. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and his deputy Suresh Pachauri have been lobbying for the posts of West Bengal PCC chief and Madhya Pradesh PCC chief respectively. Related with it was the possibility of a Cabinet reshuffle. Another issue that will bother Sonia is BSP supremo Mayawati’s recent threat to withdraw support from the UPA Government.Congress sources, however, said that Sonia was still recovering and was yet to start any discussion on these issues. “As of now there is no movement on any of these issues,” said sources. “She was hale and hearty but looked a little pale because of prolonged illness,” said a senior party office-bearer after Wednesday’s meeting. Although it was supposed to be a 10-minute-long meeting, it went on for over half-an-hour as she wanted to know details of the pending works in different states.Sensing that the party president was in a jovial mood, a senior party leader pointed to media reports claiming that Congress spent Rs 450 crore in Gujarat polls and asked her how much would party spend on forthcoming elections. According to sources, Sonia just smiled at the query. The party has already rubbished “media speculation” about the amount of money spent in Gujarat. “Rs 450 crore is absolute rubbish. The exact amount was just a fraction of that,” said sources.Negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for India-specific safeguards that are at the final stage will also engage the Congress president. Once the draft is ready, it has to be taken to the UPA-Left mechanism. “We are expecting any crucial decision by Sonia Gandhi only after we have a clear picture on the nuclear deal,” said sources.
