Sonia tells Cong to prepare for LS polls

"We have a busy election schedule for Vidhan Sabhas over the next few months. Inevitably we have to start preparing for the Lok Sabha polls next year. We have a little over a year left of this Parliament.

"We will go into these polls with an outstanding record of achievements, both in terms of government programmes and of legislation enacted. These achievements should earn for us the trust and mandate of the people once again," Gandhi said scotching speculation fuelled by media reports that Lok Sabha elections could be held early because of differences with the Left.

She was addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), the first interaction with the party MPs during the current Budget session.

However, Gandhi tempered her enthusiasm with her remarks on the results in the elections Tripura and Nagaland describing them as "very disappointing, to say the least."

"The simple lesson is that we need harder work and meticulous preparation, more careful selection of candidates and strategies, greater unity and discipline," Gandhi said.

Riding high on the "truly historic" Union Budget, especially the massive farm loan waiver scheme, she said "The plain and simple truth is that it is our party and our government that has taken bold measures." Despite a raging debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal over which the Left parties have issued threats of withdrawal of support to the government, Gandhi chose not not to speak on the issue at the CPP meeting.

Congratulating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for "giving us a budget that reflects the interest and needs of all sections of our population", she said these achievements gave the party a firm sense of self-confidence to take on its political opponents.

Telling party workers that many political parties were trying to take credit for certain measures in the budget, Gandhi said "for us these policies and programmes have nothing to do with elections. Since May, 2004 a number of far-reaching measures have been taken to undo the damage caused to the agricultural sector by the BJP-led NDA."

She accused the principal opposition party of adopting a "totally negative attitude" in Parliament.

In plans to gear up for elections, the Gandhi said that rallies like the one recently held in the national capital were being planned in all the states. "I will be participating in them." Work on preparing the database for the loan waiver scheme has to begin immediately in order to complete it by June end, she said.

Gandhi said that she has asked the AICC to work with PCCs to prepare a district-wise data base of loan beneficiaries which would be "invaluable" for the party for organising and mobilising the farmers to avail of their entitlement.

Noting that the NREGA would very soon be operational in all districts, she said "this is something we can, as a party, be truly proud of."