Fighting the perception of trust deficit between the party and the Government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to use the UPA II fourth anniversary celebration on May 22 to dispel that there was difference between her and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Sonia is expected to repose party's faith in Manmohan Singh's leadership in her speech at the dinner being organised for leaders of Congress, and UPA allies and supporting parties, source said. This will be part of the efforts by the party to reject media reports about differences between the PM and Sonia Gandhi following the controversy over sacking of Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal from the Cabinet.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who had earlier made a controversial statement against having two power centres, changed his tune on Friday. He said that Sonia had never interfered in the functioning of the Government even once and the PM is the power centre in governance.
"There has to be one power centre and here the power centre is Dr Manmohan Singh in governance and for political matters it is of course Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Both are working separately in their own domain, Dr Manmohan Singh takes all decisions in Government of India, and Sonia Gandhi takes all decisions in the organisation," he said.
In an effort to distance from his earlier stated position, Digvijay blamed media and Opposition for creating the perception about dual power centres. Sonia has suggested policies like RTI Act and NREGA programme, as per the party's election manifesto and Common Minimum Programme, but has never interfered in the functioning of the Government, he said, adding, "this perception is wrong."
Earlier, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had made statements clarifying that dropping the two ministers was a joint decision of the PM and Sonia and there was no difference between the two.
All this is being done as the Congress does not want the controversy to further dampen the last anniversary celebration before the lok Sabha polls as various scams have already eroded Government's credibility. Also Parliament washout blocked the UPA Government's ambitious Food Security Bill and land Acquisition Bill.
Now the Government is planning to highlight its achievements during the past nine years by bringing a separate report card on programmes and schemes apart from the regular annual report. It is also planning to use digital and social media in a big way to highlight these achievements, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Congress is keeping its finger crossed as far as allies and supporting parties attending the dinner is concerned. Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav is unlikely to attend dinner.