NEW DELHI, July 24: Congress President Sitaram Kesri today set a definite time-frame for his party to be back in power saying it would ``face the ultimate challenge within one to one-and-a-half years when the Congress would come back just as Indiraji had come back in 1980''.

Kesri has thus set the clock for the I K Gujral government after assuring support till he was ready to withdraw it. Kesri's declaration came in the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) today in which he clearly told party MPs to gear up for a mid-term poll next year.

Added CPP spokesperson Prithviraj Chauhan, ``Kesriji told us that things would come to a head within a year or a year-and-a-half when we might be forced to take a new decision. He told us that the Congress must be back in power like Indira Gandhi did in 1980''.

This is the first instance when Kesri has laid down such a clear plan of action to wrest power at the Centre from the 14-party United Front coalition after Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as Prime Minister. So far Kesri has been speaking only in terms of not precipitating things in a hurry for the Gujral government. But now the assertion is quite positive, in Congress terms.

Today's firm direction to party MPs to get cracking is in line with what Kesri said some days ago that the Gujral government was safe till August 15, 1998. After today, the Congress is expected to list constituencies where it has a chance of winning and also identify areas of possible cooperation with poll allies.

Such an exercise was already shortlisted as a priority area by Kesri in a meeting with PCC presidents a week ago at the AICC headquarters.

However, the Congress president left some space for ambiguity by saying in the same CPP meeting that the party would continue its support to the Gujral government but without ``compromising on the party principles''. ``The ensuing plenary session to be held at Calcutta will set the future course and shape an action plan to strengthen the party and fight communal forces unitedly,'' Kesri added.

The Congress chief also prepared some ground for his future election campaign by again equating the Left and the BJP. This was the third time in the last few days that he has done this. ``Both (the Left and the BJP) speak same language when attacking the Congress and there is no difference between them so far as their criticism of the Congress is concerned,'' Kesri said.

He added that it was the Congress alone which had never aligned with communal forces (read the BJP) while all other parties had aligned and compromised with communal forces for selfish political ends. ``Yet all these parties attack the Congress. Is it possible for the Left, with their limited presence in hardly two States, to fight communal forces alone. If they are concerned about fighting communal forces they must go with the Congress. There is no other option,'' Kesri told the CPP general body.

He also singled out the BJP for ``hijacking Congress symbols''. ``It has no history of national struggle nor a galaxy of national leaders like the Congress. The BJP believes in whispering campaigns like Ganeshji drinking milk,'' he said.

On L K Advani's rath yatra, Kesri felt a rath symbolised feudal culture of rajas and maharajas and is not a symbol of democratic ways. ``The Congress is not afraid of the BJP's whispering campaign and criticism and will face them with courage and unity. We will expose the misdeeds of BJP governments in the states and bring facts before the people,'' Kesri added. On corruption, Kesri claimed Congressmen were ``definitely less corrupt as compared to other parties''.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.