Cong plans pamphlet war to counter Opposition

The Congress, presently seen on the back foot in the battle of perceptions following the logjam over a joint parliamentary probe into the 2G spectrum scandal, is now planning to aggressively counter the political and psychological impact of the opposition's campaign among the people. Saroj Nagi reports.

The Congress, presently seen on the back foot in the battle of perceptions following the logjam over a joint parliamentary probe into the 2G spectrum scandal, is now planning to aggressively counter the political and psychological impact of the opposition's campaign among the people.

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Party leaders, MPs, legislators and workers will fan out to their constituencies to pin the blame on an "stubborn and obdurate" opposition for stalling Parliament and thereby preventing crucial pro-people legislations, including the proposed land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation bills.

In the coming days, the Congress plans to bring out small, reader-friendly pamphlets, booklets and literature to explain the party's stand on Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and emphasise its intolerance of corruption.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi set the tone for this on Monday when she backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, slammed the BJP and contrasted the Congress's track record of taking swift action against corruption with the BJP's inaction and "double-

speak" on the issue. She directed her MPs to expose the BJP's "double standards."

The Congress's initial hope that the opposition would get tired or divided over the stalemate on the JPC issue did not materialise in the winter session. It now hopes that the campaign will run of steam notwithstanding the opposition's threat to carry it into the budget session in February 2011.

"By that time, some action would have been taken against those found guilty making the demand ineffective," said a Congress leader.