Cong gears up to join battle with the Thackerays

NEW DELHI: Congress is likely to round off its 125th foundation anniversary with a plenary session in Mumbai.The indication came as the party expressed serious concern over the Thackerays' call of `Mumbai for Marathis', reiterating that Maharashtra and the rest of the country shared not just "geographical" but an "emotional bond".

The Shiv Sena pitch on "outsiders" stayed unchallenged for two years despite a 10-year-old Congress regime in Mumbai. But a mention of the controversy in Congress Working Committee on Friday suggested that the party may be gearing up to tackle Sena far more seriously than before.

Defence minister A K Antony warned that the language being used by Thackeray cousins -- Uddhav and Raj -- was "dangerous". AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi summarised Antony by saying, "Congress and Maharashtra have a tradition of unity and they have never seen one part (of country) as separate from another. So, forces inimical to national unity have to be weakened."
Sources said Antony's warning was indicative as it came while briefing the CWC on the party's anniversary. Sources said Mumbai was likely to be the venue for the plenary late this year and the mood may reduce the room for local partymen to play soft on Sena factions. A section of Congress and ally NCP is against any harsh action.

The rare hardening of stance against Sena and the likely plenary may be a message to the state unit to stop accommodating the `Mumbaikar' campaign in any way. Sources said it marks a change because the party consciously stayed away from a confrontation in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls and afterwards when Sena and its splinter outfit raised the war cry.

Sena's abysmal show in assembly polls has forced Bal Thackeray to try matching the rabid pitch of MNS, and the competition seems to be compounding the problem.

The shift is dramatic -- from a hands off approach limited to statements from AICC to a confrontationist mood with a member of Gandhi family wading into the battle. Antony's remark disapproving Thackerays chose to hammer home the gravity of the issue when he said Uddhav even spoke of stopping Rahul Gandhi. "But he is in Mumbai today," he said, referring to Rahul's visit in the face of Sena's opposition. (News Courtsy By Times of ఇండియా)