01-25-2007, 09:48 PM
Amar Singh was at Kumbh Mela and spoke of seeing Ma Durga in hema Malini's dance performance. Looked like a very devoted bhakta.
Meanwhile Pioneer reports on Jan 25 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->'Congress may think of forming Govt on its own'
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
<b>Buoyed by a rosy picture projected by recent opinion polls, Congress leaders have stepped up their demand for a re-think on the party's approach to coalition politics in the times to come.</b>
"Coalition is not a permanent arrangement and it is natural for the Congress to think of coming to power at the Centre on its own," AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said on Wednesday.
Dwivedi's comments assume significance as a sizable section of the <b>party leaders have been advocating that </b>the party's allies were limiting the space for the party's expansion and <b>the Congress should contest all the Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections.</b>
Dwivedi, who is chairman of AICC Media Department and considered close to party president Sonia Gandhi is the second senior party leader to question the advisability of continuing the path of pre-electoral alliance that the Congress forged for 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Another party general secretary Digvijay Singh had earlier gone on record to demand that the party should contest all the seats in 2009 general elections. "Until we fight all the seats, how will we keep our cadres going?" he asked.
Congress sources said that quite a few members of the Congress Working Committee had suggested convening a special conclave of party leaders to review its present coalition policy.
Asked if the AICC was planning to hold brainstorming sessions of senior leaders on the lines of the Pachmarhi (MP) Conclave of 1998 and the Shimla Shivir in 2003 to decide its future strategy, Dwivedi hedged the queries.
"We will make a public announcement when we convene such a meet," was his cryptic reply.
Significantly, the questions about the advisability of the party continuing with its current coalition agenda are being raised by senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and Dwivedi soon after the UPA Government - the first coalition experiment of the Congress - completed half of its term.
Asked whether Congress would go in for a change at the governmental level as the survey projected party chief Sonia Gandhi way ahead of Manmohan Singh as the popular choice for Prime Ministership, he said Gandhi had declined the top post even though all allies agreed for her only.
But he hastened to add that, "The Congress will go as per her wish."
To a query whether the Congress would go for mid-term polls, he said the party was satisfied with the functioning of the Government.
Asked about the difference between the UPA and the NDA, he said, "Ours is a principled coalition while the NDA is an opportunistic alliance."
On the advice offered by Left parties on growing communal forces, Dwivedi said, "We do not give sermons to others and no one should give them to us."
<b>At the same time, he maintained that the UPA Government would last its full term and the party was not entertaining ideas of going in for mid-term poll.</b>
<b><i>{This means they will do whatever it takes to stay in power. Expect more erosion of the national indentity and new rules to appease votebanks.}</i></b>
"At the moment, we are committed to the present coalition and cannot think of anything else," the Congress leader said.
Asked when the Congress could think of coming to power on its own by, he merely remarked: "Let's not speculate about the future.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think their strategy is to destroy regional parties in order to run for the next LS elections. So expect a lot of UPA allies to be scam charged and tainted.
Meanwhile Pioneer reports on Jan 25 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->'Congress may think of forming Govt on its own'
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
<b>Buoyed by a rosy picture projected by recent opinion polls, Congress leaders have stepped up their demand for a re-think on the party's approach to coalition politics in the times to come.</b>
"Coalition is not a permanent arrangement and it is natural for the Congress to think of coming to power at the Centre on its own," AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said on Wednesday.
Dwivedi's comments assume significance as a sizable section of the <b>party leaders have been advocating that </b>the party's allies were limiting the space for the party's expansion and <b>the Congress should contest all the Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections.</b>
Dwivedi, who is chairman of AICC Media Department and considered close to party president Sonia Gandhi is the second senior party leader to question the advisability of continuing the path of pre-electoral alliance that the Congress forged for 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Another party general secretary Digvijay Singh had earlier gone on record to demand that the party should contest all the seats in 2009 general elections. "Until we fight all the seats, how will we keep our cadres going?" he asked.
Congress sources said that quite a few members of the Congress Working Committee had suggested convening a special conclave of party leaders to review its present coalition policy.
Asked if the AICC was planning to hold brainstorming sessions of senior leaders on the lines of the Pachmarhi (MP) Conclave of 1998 and the Shimla Shivir in 2003 to decide its future strategy, Dwivedi hedged the queries.
"We will make a public announcement when we convene such a meet," was his cryptic reply.
Significantly, the questions about the advisability of the party continuing with its current coalition agenda are being raised by senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and Dwivedi soon after the UPA Government - the first coalition experiment of the Congress - completed half of its term.
Asked whether Congress would go in for a change at the governmental level as the survey projected party chief Sonia Gandhi way ahead of Manmohan Singh as the popular choice for Prime Ministership, he said Gandhi had declined the top post even though all allies agreed for her only.
But he hastened to add that, "The Congress will go as per her wish."
To a query whether the Congress would go for mid-term polls, he said the party was satisfied with the functioning of the Government.
Asked about the difference between the UPA and the NDA, he said, "Ours is a principled coalition while the NDA is an opportunistic alliance."
On the advice offered by Left parties on growing communal forces, Dwivedi said, "We do not give sermons to others and no one should give them to us."
<b>At the same time, he maintained that the UPA Government would last its full term and the party was not entertaining ideas of going in for mid-term poll.</b>
<b><i>{This means they will do whatever it takes to stay in power. Expect more erosion of the national indentity and new rules to appease votebanks.}</i></b>
"At the moment, we are committed to the present coalition and cannot think of anything else," the Congress leader said.
Asked when the Congress could think of coming to power on its own by, he merely remarked: "Let's not speculate about the future.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think their strategy is to destroy regional parties in order to run for the next LS elections. So expect a lot of UPA allies to be scam charged and tainted.