The Nation: Congress; Enter Mrs Clean

Sonia takes a leaf from Rajiv's book to discipline her party and ready it for assembly elections. The question is: can she succeed?

Long before medical science discovered Viagra, the Congress discovered power. The very whiff of governmental office is enough to invigorate Congressmen, especially when they have been relegated to the opposition benches virtually all over the country. So it must have felt like old times again when, over the past week, aspiring MLAs laid siege to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office in search of tickets for November's assembly elections. In 1993, the party received barely 1,300 applications for 70 seats. This year, there are 4,000.

The optimism has proved infectious. In neighbouring Rajasthan, 6,000 party workers are lobbying for tickets. A private survey commissioned by Congress President Sonia Gandhi gives her party 114 seats in the 200-member Assembly. In Mizoram, Chief Minister Lalthanhawla is confident of defying the anti-incumbency wave and retaining power.

The only state worrying the Congress is Madhya Pradesh, where it is reconciled to being voted out. Even those arguing for an alliance with the BSP have been silenced by sheer statistics. In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP gained more votes than the Congress and BSP candidates put together in 140 seats. It needs only 21 more to win an absolute majority.

ALL SHE'S DONE

Party candidates for next month's polls have to adhere to the Congress code of conduct.

Factional chieftains must ensure victory of their proteges.

The party hierarchy has been given an image revamp.

No reckless streetfighting. Political agitations have to adhere to a certain decorum.

Since loss is inevitable, Sonia figures an alliance with the BSP will only mean wasting time in seat-sharing negotiations. She wants to avoid the bother. Despite this, the Congress has attracted 10,000 applicants for 320 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh.

For the Congress, the coming polls will be the first under Sonia's leadership. Much in the manner of the early days of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, there are indications of change. Initially, state Congress committees distributed the routine two-page application forms. Soon, 10 Janpath reminded them that a detailed six-page form was necessary. It required a declaration from ticket-seekers that there was no criminal investigation pending against them. It sought a pledge to promote small families. It made clear that, if elected, the aspirants would have to submit regular property returns, pay taxes and generally adhere to the Congress' newly-drafted code of conduct.

Rather than go by familiar political logic and caste equations, Sonia has set up committees to scrutinise the thousands of forms. She has also introduced what is being termed the "accountability factor". This new principle has been suggested by Kamal Nath, MP from Chhindwara, and requires a senior leader to take responsibility for the election of all those whose candidature he recommends. When it was pointed out that factionalism often leads to defeat, Kamal Nath said: "If election can be sabotaged by another person in the party, then the recommendation should not be made."

That Sonia prefers such clear-cut thinking was apparent during the onion prices crisis. As belligerent party workers sought to organise a Delhi bandh, Sonia was resolute: "How can we be so irresponsible as to bring normal life to a standstill? You protest. But no bandh. People are wise enough to know what to do."

Convinced that actions speak louder than words, Sonia has surrounded herself with largely taint-free advisers. Pre-poll strategy sessions are a common feature at her residence and they are attended by K. Natwar Singh, Arjun Singh, M.L. Fotedar, Oscar Fernandes and Ahmed Patel. V. George, Sonia's trusted assistant, is at hand to provide the computer data and other factual information. Additionally, family friends -- whose interest is Sonia's welfare rather than the Congress' -- monitor the strategy committee's functioning.

That Sonia is impatient with old-style Congressmen and their petty intrigues was further emphasised when she asked Sunil Dutt to inaugurate the National Convention of the Youth Congress. Dutt, formerly an MP from Mumbai, has a reputation for honesty which is the antithesis of the Youth Congress' recent record. Next, Sonia asked Shivraj Patil, former Lok Sabha Speaker, to take charge of the party's media department. Tired of spin doctors and their glib sound bites, she seeks a return to more conventional ways. No wonder Sonia prefers door-to-door canvassing to shrill campaigns.

All this is reminiscent of Rajiv's speech at the Congress' centenary session in Mumbai, December 1985. He had poured scorn on "power brokers" and vowed to cleanse the party. In the end, he failed. Now the mantle has fallen on his widow. Can Sonia take the term "Congress culture" away from the realms of an oxymoron?