Sonia asks leaders to coordinate, execute manifesto

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Stressing performance of the Congress governments in four states and a Union Territory, party interim chief Sonia Gandhi, here on Friday, met Chief Ministers, in-charge of states and state party chiefs and asked them to work in coordination.

The meeting at Sonia Gandhi's residence was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayamsami, MP party in-charge Deepak Babaria, Rajasthan in-charge Avinash Pandey and Punjab in-charge Asha Kumari.

The one-&-half-hour meeting was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress general secretaries K.C. Venugopal, Ahmed Patel, Mukul Wasnik and A.K. Antony.

After the meeting, Kamal Nath told reporters, "Sonia Gandhi has asked all leaders in the state to work in coordination."

Speaking to media, Pilot said there was an elaborate discussion on what all the Congress governments in states were doing for the people. "How to increase involvement of workers who have worked for the party for years and brought it back to power in the states was also discussed," he said.

The Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister said the party chief stressed the need to work in tandem with "proper coordination".

The meeting comes at a time when the party is witnessing infighting in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In MP, the rift between the Jyotiraditya Scindia faction and the rest has snowballed into a full-fledged war. Many Scindia supporters have openly vented anger against Kamal Nath and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.

In Rajasthan, on several occasions Pilot criticised the government on several issues like law and order and the delay in forming a SIT to probe death of Pehlu Khan.

Pilot said, "It was discussed that we should run a sensible government and the good schemes of the Congress-ruled states be adopted in other party-ruled states."

Later in a statement, the Congress blamed the BJP governments at the Centre and in states for the dire "socio-economic and political crisis" in the country.

"The Congress-ruled states are not only the standing safe sanctuaries of democracy, people-centric governance and economic remonitisation, but also the strongest bulwark against the BJP," the party said.

Reviewing the state governments' performance, Sonia Gandhi emphasised the need to put in place an "effective systems for monitoring and implementation of the key manifesto commitments that the Congress had made in the run-up to the Assembly elections".

The party accused the BJP of playing "diabolic game of destabilisation" to create road blocks in the implementation of central schemes and programmes by the Congress-ruled states.

"The need of an effective strategy to deal with the problem that includes exposing the BJP in front of the people was underlined," it said.

Sonia Gandhi also asked the Chief Ministers to assign Ministers on the roster basis to sit in the party offices to address the public grievance. The alternate governance model, which are people-centric and inclusive, put forth by these states coupled with the national endeavour of the party were the most effective way to deal with and defeat the anti-people polices of the BJP, she said.

The meeting comes a day after Sonia Gandhi met party general secretaries and other senior leaders. On Thursday, Sonia Gandhi underlined that the party workers and leaders must bot agitate only on social media, but should to hit the ground to be with the people.