Can Sonia make the PM smile again?

Sonia Gandhi will have to take steps to restore morale of the party

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a cryptic remark when asked on Friday if he would resign after his public volte-face on the nuclear deal.

“That’s a suggestion for action,” he said. The audience (at a leadership summit) laughed, not quite sure whether it was said in jest or seriousness.

The comment must surely haunt Congress President Sonia Gandhi as she picks up the pieces of her tattered government and coalition after the two-month standoff with the Left over the nuclear deal.

By persuading the PM to back down on his 'take-it-or-leave-it' challenge to the Left, she has saved the government she hastily cobbled together when the BJP-led NDA hurtled to a shock defeat in the 2004 polls.

But it has left her with two residual problems with which she will have to contend in the days to come.

One, the PM stands considerably diminished by the U-turn, and it cannot do the Congress any good to have the head of its government reduced to a cipher in public perception.

Two, the apparent capitulation to the Left has sent a wave of demoralization sweeping through the Congress, which was totally unprepared for the backtracking after being revved up to face a snap poll in February-March. 

Congress leaders sounded quite downcast as they grappled with Gandhi’s bombshells and sought to justify them as a ``strategic pause’’.

Party spokesman Abhishekh Singhvi reflected the mood when he said there was no U-turn on the nuclear deal. And, on Friday evening, the Capital abounded with rumours that the PM had resigned. False as they are, the rumours underline the uncertainty that has gripped the Congress.

Gandhi must have been aware of the impact her comments would have on her party and the man she chose as PM. She was, therefore, careful to coat the bitter pill with plenty of sugar as she showered praises on Manmohan Singh and dropped a hint about a cabinet reshuffle to bring newer and younger faces into the government.

But she will have to do more than offer lollipops to counter the negative mood in her ranks. Over the next few weeks, Gandhi will have to undertake a series of confidence-building exercises to boost the morale of the Congress and resurrect the image of the PM.

She will also have to get the Left to lower the decibel level of its rhetoric to send out the message that all’s well with the ruling combine.

Between the lines of her mantra on coalition dharma lies a clear message: the dictum to ``understand and accommodate each other’’ applies as much to the Left as to the PM.

If Singh can be made to swallow his pride to keep the UPA-Left arrangement afloat, then surely Prakash Karat can be persuaded to meet him halfway.

Gandhi seemed to signal that she’s done her bit. Now, it’s up to the senior leaders of the Left to do their bit. Otherwise, the rupture will not heal and the election that no one wants may yet happen.

Left leaders are holding their cards close to their chest but they have dropped enough hints about the criticality of the October 22 meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal. There could be another twist to the nuclear drama still.