ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Pawar's moves rattle Sonia

Alarmed by the games being played by Sharad Pawar, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her loyalists are trying to rein in the Maharashtra leader.

Even as rebellion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government picks up momentum, Sonia and Pawar are jostling for future power.

Sonia and her supporters fear that Pawar is trying to finish party unity and its chances to form a government in the post-Vajpayee era.

Simply put, Pawar's plans include his revival in the party and in national politics.

In the last two weeks, the Opposition leader has met sundry allies -- without Sonia's consent -- in an attempt to forge a loose-knit front in the event of All Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief J Jayalalitha pulling down the BJP government.

Sources said Pawar has confided his keenness to lead a Congress-led government to Samajwadi Party head Mulayam Singh Yadav, former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Yadav, Jayalalitha, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee and Left leaders including Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan.

When Sonia plunged into active politics in January, leaders like Mulayam, Mamata, Jayalalitha and Chandra Shekhar had ridiculed her.

''All these leaders are close to Pawar and believe he is the only Congress leader who can become the next prime minister,'' a Pawar supporter from south India told Rediff On The NeT.

He said Pawar's initiative to forge a secular alternative to the BJP government ''does not need the party president's formal approval.'' ''Pawar is the second top leader in the party and he is also the Opposition leader,'' he added.

Three days ago, in a television interview, Pawar said the Congress' allies will decide who the next prime minister will be. Pawar also said that Sonia can be prime minister only if the Congress has a majority in Parliament.

Political observers believe the Maharashtra leader's statement was meant to stir Opposition leaders who have in the past opposed the Nehru dynasty. A day later, Chandra Shekhar said Sonia should not be the next prime minister of India.

Left leaders indicated that they would distance themselves from a Congress government if Sonia was anointed as the country's top political executive.

''We are ready to support a Congress government. But we will always prefer Pawar to Sonia as the prime minister,'' a senior CPI-M leader told Rediff On The NeT.

For Pawar, the tussle for the number one position in the Congress began soon after Sonia became party president early this year.

Pawar was further displeased when Sonia was chosen chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

Even though he was appointed leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Pawar's bid to chalk out a strategy for his revival have so far been stymied by the Sonia wave in the Congress party.

Many in the party believe the battle to head a future coalition government cobbled by the Congress may depend on the Congress Working Committee.

In the current CWC, Pawar can possibly bank on support from Jitendra Prasada, Pranab Mukherjee, R K Dhawan, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sitaram Kesri and Tariq Anwar.

But this battle for supremacy cannot be won with the support of a half dozen CWC members.

Fearing that Pawar's political plans will reach a point of no return, Sonia has deployed other CWC members -- Arjun Singh, Ahmed Patel, Oscar Fernandes, A K Antony, Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Dr Manmohan Singh, K Karunakaran, Meira Kumar, Madhavrao Scindia and Purno A Sangma -- to rein in the Maharashtra leader.

These leaders have been reportedly asked to resist the Pawar onslaught by projecting Sonia as the only person who can lead the party and a united coalition.

''The power game in the Congress is taking twists and turns. We fear it will end up in disaster,'' said a party insider. ''It is sad the Congress remains a mute spectator despite the fact that the Vajpayee government is showing signs of faltering,'' he added.

Tell us what you think of this report