Congress to fight Left in Kerala, Bengal, Tripura
by Pankaj Yadav

    Rajiv Nagar (Hyderabad): The Draft Political Resolution of AICC Plenary Session today clearly said that the Congress would aggressively confront and fight the Left in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, and welcomed an alliance with any party or parties that did not have friendship with the communal forces. Announcing this here today, senior Congress leader and Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh said that very soon polls are going to be held in three states - Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura - where parties having an ideology contrary to the Congress' are present. "We will fight on our own in these states," he said while moving the political resolution. Referring to the UPA government, Singh said that besides the Congress, it was also the responsibility of the UPA allies to ensure that the coalition government moves smoothly. Mentioning the fact that each of the coalition partners had its own perspective, the Congress' political resolution said that there were no differences that could not be resolved through dialogue and discussion among the supporting parties. The resolution further said that it was conscious that in some states its main political opponents were parties that are supporting it at the Centre, and that national challenges demand cooperation and coordination among secular parties. However, the party clarified that in states like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, there was no question of any understanding or compromise, and that it would aggressively confront and fight the Left in these three states and welcomed an alliance with any party that had no truck, direct or indirect, with the Bharatiya Janata Party or other communal forces.

     The political resolution said that the Congress sees the birth of the UPA not in terms of a "narrow-minded pursuit" of power, or even as a desperate move to stall the communalist forces from returning to office, but as a wholesome desire to serve the nation with time-tested ideas and methods of rapid development and distributive justice. The draft resolution which would be put to vote later in the day here, also expressed that a short-sighted and a short-term calculus of benefit to oneself has no place in the noble venture of coalition. The Indian National Congress invites all its coalition partners in the UPA to be ready to give so that all Indians are able to take. The resolution said that the Congress would like to place on record its firm belief that a coalition meant that all the parties in partnership follow a basic discipline, especially in public. In their anxiety to protect and project their own individual party line, if any coalition partner crosses or is seen to be crossing the limits of constructive criticism, then the coalition is weakened and its public credibility eroded. Collective responsibility in a coalition must adhere to at all time, the resolution pointed out. Resolutions on economic affairs, on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation, and resolution on international affairs would come later in the day. On the third and concluding day, the plenary will adopt condolence resolution as well as the constitutional resolution.

   The Congress president will make her speech and later discussion on the political resolution will commence at 11.20 am, followed by discussion on the economic resolution at 1.20 pm. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the plenary at 3 pm. This will be followed by discussion on the resolution on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation and the resolution on international affairs. After the concluding remarks by the Congress president and vote of thanks, the plenary will conclude with the national anthem at 6.45 pm. The three-day 82nd Congress plenary session commenced on Saturday with the meting of the extended Congress Working Committee. Over 10,000 delegates, including Chief Ministers of 16 Congress- ruled states, Central Ministers, MPs and other leaders are participating in the plenary, the fifth to be held in Andhra Pradesh. Senior Congress leader and Uttaranchal Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari is not attending the meeting as he is reportedly miffed at not being included as a member of the CWC.

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