Dismissing talk of early elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday laid out the road map for the next Lok Sabha polls, saying the party would be more careful in selection of candidates and show greater unity and discipline.“We have a busy election schedule for Vidhan Sabhas over the next few months. Inevitably we have to start preparing for Lok Sabha polls next year. We have a little over a year left of this Parliament. We will go into these polls with an outstanding record of achievements, both in terms of Government programmes and of legislation enacted. These achievements should earn for us the trust and mandate of the people once again,” Gandhi told a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).Her remarks came amidst speculation that Lok Sabha elections could be held early because of differences with the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal. On Monday, the UPA had told the Left they could hold discussions on the deal on March 17. But Gandhi also drew the attention of her party to the election results in Tripura and Nagaland, calling them “very disappointing, to say the least”. “The simple lesson is that we need harder work and meticulous preparation, more careful selection of candidates and strategies, greater unity and discipline,” she said.She described this year’s Budget as “truly historic”, especially the massive farm loan waiver scheme. “The plain and simple truth is that it is our party and our government that has taken bold measures,” she said.
