Sonia's recipe brews trouble within Congress
George Iype in New Delhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi's confrontation with top leader Sharad Pawar and her management of the party's organisational affairs has considerably tarnished the façade of unity that she has tried to create within the party over the past three months.
Resentment is brewing in the Congress as a section of senior leaders
privately say they are dissatisfied with "Sonia's style of
functioning and secretive decisions".
While her over-dependence on leaders like Arjun Singh, K Natwar Singh and M L Fotedar for political counsel is seen as the major drawback of Sonia's style, many in the party believe that some of the recent decisions of the Congress chief was to completely marginalised Pawar.
"Sonia is inexperienced in politics. But those who advise her on
political matters want to ensure that leaders like Pawar never pose any challenge to her," an All India Congress Committee secretary told Rediff On
The Net.
He said Sonia's tiff with Pawar on a minor issue has been blown out of
proportion. "We all want both Sonia and Pawar to make up with each other so that there is no bad blood in the party. But it is unlikely that Sonia loyalists will allow that," the Congress leader added.
Pawar and Sonia have not met after the latter issued showcause notices to 10 MLAs for cross-voting in the recently-held Rajya Sabha elections in Maharasthra. While Sonia is now on a two-day trip to Rajasthan, Pawar has held a number of consultations with the members of Parliament loyal to him to tackle the movement
against him within the party.
Heavy cross-voting from the Congress members of legislative assembly resulted in the defeat of the official Congress candidate R D Pradhan in the biennial elections to the Upper House.
Pawar supporters say even though he is the most powerful leader in the Congress today, the former Maharashtra chief minister is being treated like "an outcast in the party" over a non-issue. "Pawar is the
Opposition leader in Parliament and it is regrettable that the party president is avoiding him," a southern Congress MP close to Pawar said.
He said Sonia's decision to sideline Pawar must be the handiwork of her so-called political advisors like Arjun Singh, Natwar Singh and M L Fotedar. "Sonia has not yet consulted Pawar on the appointment of the next Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president," the MP disclosed.
Ranjit Deshmukh had resigned as PCC chief owning moral
responsibility for the Maharashtra fiasco. But insiders say Sonia has not yet shown any inclination to consult Pawar on the appointment of a new PCC president
for the state.
Sources said Pawar would very much want the Karad MP, Prithviraj Chavan, to take over from Deshmukh. But he is said to be not
interested even in proposing Chavan's name to the party president as Pawar fears that he would be overruled by Sonia.
It is not the confrontation with Pawar alone that is troubling Sonia. But the changes of PCC presidents in states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have created considerable resentment in the party rank and file.
Many senior leaders have questioned her discretion in the appointment of a Muslim leader like Salman Khursheed as the Uttar Pradesh PCC president. "Salman is not a grassroots leader with a mass following. In a state like UP, he is a disastrous choice," a Congress observer said.
Though Sonia must have chosen Khursheed with an eye on the Muslim vote bank, many believe his appointment will further wean away the majority Hindu votes in the state. Moreover, Salman's elevation has considerably angered the former UP PCC president Jitendra Prasada.
Similarly, the appointment of Tindivanam Ramamurthy as the PCC president in Tamil Nadu has led to a virtual revolt by the state unit. On Thursday, a group of leaders from TNCC submitted a memorandum to Sonia deploring the replacement of Thangabalu, who was an elected president of the state PCC, with Ramamurthy.
Though the party leaders in UP, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and West Bengal have begun accepting Sonia's decision on PCC presidents as fait accompli, many in the party believe difficult times are ahead for the party president in the days to come.
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