Pawar begins moves to regain Congress spotlight

What they say is one thing -- what they mean, in context of national politics, is often something quite different.

Thus, former Union minister V C Shukla's appeal to Congressmen to elect him as member of the Congress Working Committee is being construed, in political circles here, as indication that Maharashtra strongman and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar's efforts to displace Sitaram Kesri and step into the party's spotlight.

Pawar's recent defeat in the party presidential polls, when he was routed by incumbent and CPP leader Sitaram Kesri appeared, for a while, to have taken the wind out of Pawar's sails.

Pawar first fell foul of Kesri during the no-confidence motion against the Deve Gowda government, when he failed to defend Kesri against a spirited attack by the then prime minister. Kesri took Pawar's silence as a personal affront, and has since then been systematically chipping away at the latter's power base within the party.

The gulf between the two leaders widened when Pawar entered into an understanding with fellow Kesri-baiter Rajesh Pilot with regard to the party presidential poll. On that occasion, Kesri won with a huge majority, in the process managing to make both Pawar and Pilot look rather silly.

Since then, both Pilot and Pawar have sung a much softer key. Which, for Kesri, was the cue to go on a flat-out offensive.

Pawar has apparently realised the danger of lying low in the face of Kesri's onslaught. And thus, argue analysts, the appeal by Shukla for election as CWC member. Senior AICC officials indicate that Shukla has been said in close touch with Pawar this last fortnight, and that the latter has promised Shukla help, both in terms of men and material, in his bid to become a CWC member.

If Shukla succeeds, Pawar will have a friend and ally at court -- and that is crucial, since Kesri has of late been keeping Pawar at arm's length in all matters pertaining to the party.

Pawar supporters, who are camped in the capital, grouse that their leader is being given a raw deal by the party president, and that this does not augur well for the Congress as a whole. Unfazed, Kesri has continued to promote younger members of the party such as Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Prithviraj Chauhan.

To make matters worse, veterans such as Arjun Singh have recently come out in the open in Kesri's favour -- which, in effect, translates into a further setback for Pawar and Pilot, both of whom are nursing ambitions of being elected to the CWC.

Significantly, Kesri's political secretary Tariq Anwar stressed in a recent interview that he was not sure about either Pawar or Pilot being able to command sufficient votes for election to the CWC.

Pawar, in turn, is playing the Shukla card -- but this, warn Congress-watchers, could well backfire, as Shukla is known for political opportunism. Thus, it is not impossible that Shukla, on becoming a member of the CWC, could realise that it pays him more dividends to toe the Kesri line and cut his ties with Pawar.

One thing is for sure -- in the ongoing battle, the initiative is firmly with Kesri. And the Congress president has vowed publicly that he will "fix" Pawar for the latter's "insincerity" -- a promise, or threat, that should make the Maharashtra leader's life pretty interesting in the months to come.