Cong. begins work on plenary resolutions

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, JAN. 23. After the half-dip in the Ganges, it is now back to the brasstacks for Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Congress president.

She has got down to the task of putting together the resolutions that the party proposes to take up at its plenary session in Bangalore from February 14 to 16.

The 15-member drafting committee, headed by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, met this evening to consider the drafts prepared by various sub- committees.

The committee entrusted with the task of preparing the political resolution at its meeting short-listed issues such as coalitions, Ayodhya, Kashmir, the BJP's attempts to saffronise institutions, and lack of governance, among others.

The committee would also try to put an end to the confusion over its stand on coalitions.

It believes that the stand that it took in Pachmarhi, which stated that its first priority would be to form a Government on its own, and that it would go in for coalitions only in exceptional circumstances, has been misunderstood.

Though the resolution is still in its formative stage, the party intends to make it clear ``that while the party is not averse to coalitions, its primary objective would be to form a Government on its own''.

It would also reiterate its Pachmarhi commitment - that it would consider entering into a coalition provided it did not call for a compromise on its ideology and policies.

The first draft of the sub-committee entrusted with preparing the party's economic resolution came up for consideration.

As it stands, despite the loud noises emanating from a section, there is little change in its stand on the policies initiated in 1991.

However, the document is likely to see some changes in order to appear different from the BJP's position.

The party wants to be on the side of popular public opinion, yet at the same time does not want to be seen disowning the very policies it helped initiate.

The final draft would attempt at mixing ``good economics with good politics'' and try and give the reforms a human face.

The sub-committees were originally supposed to give in their drafts by January 23.

However, it appears that the process could take longer and the final draft would be ready by only the month-end.

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