Sonia re-elected Congress chief
NEW DELHI: Heavy rain and terrible traffic snarls could not dampen the festivities in the Congress headquarters on Friday as Sonia Gandhi was declared elected Congress president for the fourth consecutive term — ‘unopposed’.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ailing Arjun Singh pushing his own wheelchair, the Congress top-brass had to brave the truant weather and the attendant mud-and-slush along with the foot soldiers of India’s oldest political party in this ritual of democracy.
Importance of attendance was marked by the two quick trips Union Home Minister P Chidambaram made from North Block to 24, Akbar Road to be part of the ceremony that took place inside a tri-colour tent. (First time, he was too early for the event).
As for Sonia, who chose to make India her home, it was a historic day. But in her simple saffron-and-black cotton sari and in her demeanor, that sense of history was missing.
With no one really challenging her leadership, her nominated Prime Minister heading a record second-term government, her former bête noirs or their children firmly stationed in the UPA coalition, it seemed just other another day, just another political jamboree.
It is, perhaps, this sense of stability that made her new innings look mundane, robbing the significance of the record scored.
However, in the few words she uttered after accepting the certificate of election from Oscar Fernandes, Sonia reiterated her political moorings: “Since the beginning, the Congress has been working for every section of the society. Whether we are in government or not, we should not forget this big responsibility.”
Even while thanking the Congress leaders and workers across the country for ‘re-appointing her president for yet another term,’ she seemed to harp on the same point, but also added, “Together we can strengthen this great organisation.”
First elected as Congress president in 1998, her attempts at forming a coalition government headed by the Congress met with success in 2004 when then BJP-led NDA government got defeated in the general elections.
Whether in her fourth term at office she is able to realise the dream of once again reviving the Congress in the northern heartland through ‘work for every section and together with the grass-root workers’, needs to be seen. Till then, as a veteran Congress leader said, it is an ‘unfulfilled innings.'
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ailing Arjun Singh pushing his own wheelchair, the Congress top-brass had to brave the truant weather and the attendant mud-and-slush along with the foot soldiers of India’s oldest political party in this ritual of democracy.
Importance of attendance was marked by the two quick trips Union Home Minister P Chidambaram made from North Block to 24, Akbar Road to be part of the ceremony that took place inside a tri-colour tent. (First time, he was too early for the event).
As for Sonia, who chose to make India her home, it was a historic day. But in her simple saffron-and-black cotton sari and in her demeanor, that sense of history was missing.
With no one really challenging her leadership, her nominated Prime Minister heading a record second-term government, her former bête noirs or their children firmly stationed in the UPA coalition, it seemed just other another day, just another political jamboree.
It is, perhaps, this sense of stability that made her new innings look mundane, robbing the significance of the record scored.
However, in the few words she uttered after accepting the certificate of election from Oscar Fernandes, Sonia reiterated her political moorings: “Since the beginning, the Congress has been working for every section of the society. Whether we are in government or not, we should not forget this big responsibility.”
Even while thanking the Congress leaders and workers across the country for ‘re-appointing her president for yet another term,’ she seemed to harp on the same point, but also added, “Together we can strengthen this great organisation.”
First elected as Congress president in 1998, her attempts at forming a coalition government headed by the Congress met with success in 2004 when then BJP-led NDA government got defeated in the general elections.
Whether in her fourth term at office she is able to realise the dream of once again reviving the Congress in the northern heartland through ‘work for every section and together with the grass-root workers’, needs to be seen. Till then, as a veteran Congress leader said, it is an ‘unfulfilled innings.'
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