Sonia Gandhi chalks out strategy to curb Anna menace

New Delhi, Oct 15: After anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare kick started his anti-Congress campaign, the party"s popularity has further downslided. So much is the impact that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) has called a meeting to devise a strategy to curb the Anna menace ahead of the polls in 2012.

With Team Anna causing considerable hurt to Congress in the recently concluded Hisar By-elections, the party does not want to repeat the same scenario in future elections as well. Anna Hazare and his team had gone on a campaign urging voters not to vote for the Congress unless they pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament.

There are also fears that the anti-Congress campaign might be successful especially at a time when rampant corruption and scams have hit the UPA government. The exact date of the CWC meeting is not finalized yet.

With CWC Chief Sonia Gandhi back in the helm of affairs, this meeting will be the first after her return from the US post-surgery. There are also talks of the proposed Lokpal Bill having constitutional powers, as suggested by Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi.

A Congress leader has been quoted as saying, “If the winter session was the cut-off mark, why did Anna campaign against the Congress in Hisar while ignoring last month's by- poll in Karnataka's Koppal?" There are other conspiracy theories doing the rounds that the Jan Lokpal Bill campaign is an effort to bar the Congress from getting back to power in the 2014 general elections.

Seniors within the Congress party, however think that the Anna campaign should not be viewed very seriously and that Digvijay"s acid remarks on Anna Hazare will actually prove detrimental to the party"s chances in the upcoming elections.

OneIndia News