Challenging the Chief

March 30, 1997

THE WEEK

Challenging the Chief
The Pawar and Rao camps are making life difficult for Sitaram Kesri

As the organisational elections draw closer the acting Congress chief Sitaram Kesri is facing increasing challenge from rival groups, putting jeopardy his chances of being unanimously elected party president.

From the day he took over from Narasimha Rao, Kesri has been manipulating, cajoling and accommodating partymen in a bid to keep critics and potential rivals at bay. Since Sharad Pawar is perceived as a challenger for the big post, Kesri has stopped taking him into confidence. Mutual distrust between the two has grown since Pawar's appointment as leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. To keep him in control, Kesri has refrained from making him the Congress spokesman with the United Front government.

However, it is the Rao group in the CPP which has emerged as Kesri's most vocal critic. The former chief's loyalists like Jagnnath Mishra, Suresh Kalmadi, S.S. Ahluwalia, Rajashekhar Reddy and Matang Singh are making life difficult for Kesri. At the recent CPP meeting, Kesri aides could not prevent Rao supporters from raking up uncomfortable issues such as the party's debacle in the Punjab polls and the Lok Sabha byelection sand lashing out at the chief for his "double standards". Never before has Kesri faced such a vicious attack from his critics in the party. They bluntly told him that the party had weakened under his leadership. And though Kesri had tried to project himself as Mr. Clean, they said, he was himself embroiled in a number of cases. He had called for a war against corruption but had handed out tickets to the hawala-tainted.

Significantly, of the 27 men listed to speak at the meeting nearly 20 were against Kesri. Ajit Jogi, Vayalar Ravi and G. Venkataswamy made an attempt to defend their beleaguered chief but were badgered by the Rao loyalists. The CPP meeting while exposing the fact that Kesri is losing grip on the MPs also revealed the strategies of the Pawar and Rao camps. The Rao loyalists will most likely maintain their anti-Kesri tempo till the organisational elections by a phased release of the list of signatures calling for an AICC session.

Pawar is not yet ready for an all-out confrontation with Kesri. But he has been going all out to woo the MPs. As the leader in the Lok Sabha he has succeeded in establishing a rapport with many of them and has arranged meetings of MPs with UF ministers so that they can air their problems. Pawar has also established contact with the state units. There have also been several rounds of discussions between him and Rajesh Pilot.

The Maratha strongman has slowly begun to assert himself. At the daily informal meeting of MPs to discuss floor strategy, Pawar took the view that the Congress would gain if it worked to defeat the BJP motion on Uttar Pradesh and then talked to the government for the recall of Governor Romesh Bhandari. This would deprive the BJP of any mileage. Kesri decided to go by Jitendra Prasads's view and took up the matter with Prime Minister Deve Gowda before the motion he also authorised Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee and Prasada to discuss the issue with Gowda.

The removal of Pramod Tiwari, the CLP leader in UP, threatened to trigger a confrontation between Pawar and Kesri. Pawar reportedly asked Kesri to reinstate Tiwari. The idea was to assess whether Kesri would side with him or Prasada. It was also meant to stop Kesri from pandering to Prasada because of the numbers of PCC votes he can promise in the elections. Pawar is certainly upset at the way his supporters have been ignored by Kesri while appointing observers for the organisational elections. The first list of observers was, in fact, full of Pawar loyalists. Senior leaders from Maharashtra told Kesri that this would only help Pawar consolidate his position.

A fresh list was drawn up by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Oscar Fernandes. Wherever possible Kesri has appointed his own men but in no-go situations he has installed his supporters along with Pawar's. So while Andhra Pradesh has Prabha Rao from the Pawar camp, Kesri has also appointed Chandan Bagachi. In Bihar he has nominated B.K. Hari Prasad to counter B.S. Hooda. In Punjab, Praful Patel, a Pawar aide, has with him K.D. Sultanpuri, a Kesri loyalist. In Rajasthan, Vilas Muttemwar, a Pawar supporter, has been neutralised by John Fernandes.

The party chief has also made sure that some of the Pawar loyalists like P.C. Chacko and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi had to make do with smaller states like Pondicherry and Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Mumbai too have got Kesri supporters as observers. In fact, of the 51 observers appointed so far the majority are Kesri loyalist.

Kesri' ad hoc appointments in the state units have attracted flak and Jagnnath Mishra even expressed doubts about the fairness of the organisational polls. But Kesri knows that a hold on the state units is crucial for success in the elections. Mumbai and Delhi have already got new PCC chiefs and both are understandably Kesri's men. He has effected changes only in states where he is not sure of the loyalty of the person in command.

In Rajasthan, where Ashok Ghelot put in his papers after the party's defeat in Nagaur, Kesri has preferred not to take action. The rival camps are sure to come up with their strategies to neutralise Kesri's moves. They want to make life tough for him till the organisational election. By now Kesri himself realises that full well.

RASHMI SAKSENA