With electioneering coming to an end and amid exit polls predicting a NDA Government at the Centre, the Congress Core Group met on Monday to deliberate on the strategy to prevent Narendra Modi from assuming the top slot if the numbers game came to that.
The Core Group meeting, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, was held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence even as all the exit polls reflected a gloomy scenario for the party.
The senior leaders, which also had Congress’ chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi in the meeting, chose not to take the exit poll predictions seriously as they have seldom proved true over the years. However, sources said that the figures were discussed informally.
While BJP under its Prime Ministerial candidate Modi is upbeat about the poll prospects, Congress leaders claimed UPA III will return to power. The party’s core group of decision makers was called after a gap of two months and was expected to discuss other Government-related matters, including crucial decisions on appointment of next Army Chief and also the goof up over Snoopgate Commission, but they were not taken up.
Sonia also had a meeting with senior party leaders including party general secretaries to take stock of the situation emerging post-polls. The senior leaders would again meet on Wednesday at Sonia’s dinner for the outgoing Prime Minister, who has announced his retirement.
Earlier, Sonia had decided to host the PM exclusively, but acceded to requests from the CWC members to make it a joint affair before the results. The senior party members would also present Manmohan Singh a booklet eulogizing him and his 10 years of rule.
last week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said that the Congress has a “very good chance” of forming a Government under its leadership with some allies. His remarks had come amid talk of an “enlarged” UPA-III to stop Modi from coming to power.