Don't drag in Sonia: Azad

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, JULY 21. Amid the ongoing row between the parties, the Congress general secretary, Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad, today unequivocally asked the AIADMK not to ``drag'' the AICC president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, in the spat.

``It is unfortunate that a senior AIADMK leader has chosen to drag in Ms. Gandhi (while replying to the TNCC president's statement). This should not be done,'' he told the media.

Making clear his displeasure at the AIADMK headquarters secretary, Mr. K. A. Sengottaiyan's tirade against the Congress, Mr. Azad, who was here to attend Kamaraj birth anniversary celebrations, said, ``there should be self-restraint in making public utterances''.

Mr. Azad also took exception to his remarks that the Congress had won two MP seats, besides 7 in the recent Assembly election, only because of its alliance with the AIADMK. Without mincing words, Mr. Azad pointed out that the Congress helped out the AIADMK in the crisis which arose following the recent arrest of the DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

``Alliance is about give and take. Even before the AIADMK sought our support, and after they pleaded for our help recently, we put our foot down and opposed any move to dismiss the AIADMK Government. And the BJP could not move an inch because we are the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha. But we did not go public about it''. Hence the AIADMK should not ``publicly exploit what it has done for its allies''.

As for the continuance of the alliance, Mr. Azad said the Congress had ``no doubts about continuing its relationship with the AIADMK''. But it was the AIADMK leader, Ms. Jayalalithaa, who during her visit to Delhi in June, said the alliance was over with the Assembly election. Subsequently senior AIADMK leaders said in Delhi that the ``alliance continues''. Hence, it was for the AIADMK to ``think about it''.

Mr. Azad denied reports that Ms. Gandhi's message to the recent State Congress convention on human rights was in a specific reference to the situation in Tamil Nadu.

As for the TNCC president, Mr. E. V. K. S. Elangovan's statement denouncing the Dravidian parties which sparked the latest row, Mr. Azad said there was nothing objectionable in his calling for restoration of Kamaraj rule on the ``great leader's 99th birth anniversary''.

``A good ally should want its smaller partners to grow and prosper. How can anyone object if the State Congress president tells his cadres that the Congress will come back to power in Tamil Nadu''?

However, conceding that the State Congress leaders could have made controversial statements in the past, Mr. Azad said, ``even those statements should not be linked to Ms. Gandhi. For, they may not have her approval at all''.

Asked whether the Congress was planning to remove Mr. Elangovan in the face of the AIADMK's open demand for his ouster, Mr. Azad said it was better not to react to it.

On the growing demand within the State Congress for Mr. Elangovan's ouster, the CWC member merely stated the high command had not ``applied its mind to the issue''. The need was for unity among warring groups rather than a mere change of guard.

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