CWC meeting may judge Pawar in absentia
George Iype in New Delhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Tuesday amidst reports that there is growing rift between her and senior party leader Sharad Pawar over a number of issues, including the Ayodhya controversy and the party's bad performance in last week's Rajya Sabha election.
The CWC meeting, to be held in Pawar's absence, will be a focus of attention for his opponents to target him for allegedly ensuring the defeat of Sonia's nominee R D Pradhan in the RS election from Maharashtra.
Heavy cross-voting from Congress legislators resulted in Pradhan's shock defeat in the biennial election to the Upper House last week. What made matters worse was that IIndependent candidates Vijay Darda and Suresh Kalmadi managed to get elected at his cost. Both Darda -- who was backed by Pawar -- and Kalmadi managed more votes than Pradhan and Najma Heptulla who were the official
Congress candidates.
Pawar, who is leader of the Opposition in Parliament, is currently in London, apparently undergoing a minor knee operation.
Sonia loyalists say she is angry at Pawar for causing her first major setback after she took over as the Congress president three months back. A
three-member Congress team comprising Rajesh Pilot, K Vijayabhaskara Reddy and A K Antony are scheduled to submit an interim report on Maharashtra to Sonia before Tuesday's CWC meeting.
"This report could alter equations in the party, especially as many Pawar-baiters are waiting for the right chance to strike at him," a Congress leader told Rediff On The NeT.
"The real problem is that many Sonia supporters believe that Pawar has a secret understanding with Kalmadi
despite their love-hate relationship," he said. "Kalmadi was a one-time protégé of Pawar. And now they pretend
to be arch-enemies," he added.
In fact, Sonia loyalists suspect that Pawar has clinched a secret deal with Kalmadi, the newly elected Rajya Sabha member. Kalmadi has floated his own outfit, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, and announced that his new party will contest all the 285 seats in the 2000 assembly election in Maharashtra.
Sources said Pawar is reportedly ill at ease with Sonia, especially over the leadership's failure to cash in on the Ayodhya controversy.
Pawar along with other senior CWC members like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Madhavrao Scindia have been assiduously arguing that Ayodhya could be the right cause for Sonia to bring together all anti-BJP parties onto one platform to pull down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
But the Congress's anti-Ayodhya campaign has lost much of its steam due to a sharp division of opinion among CWC members. While most of them have advised her to wait till the assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan later this year, Sonia has made little progress in the past three months to win over friendly parties.
Sonia aide and CWC member Oscar Fernandes said the CWC will primarily discuss the Ayodhya controversy and the party's strategy for the second phase of the Budget session of Parliament beginning on July 3.
"The BJP government's longevity depends on the smooth passage of the Budget. We are therefore fine-tuning our priorities for the Parliament session," he told Rediff On The NeT.
Asked if Ram Pradhan's defeat would come up before the CWC, he said: "The party president will assess the Maharashtra situation after the studying the report from the three-member CWC team." Fernandes added that the CWC is not a forum to question and target senior leaders in the party.
Many believe that since two -- Pilot and Reddy -- of the three members preparing the report on Maharashtra are anti-Pawar, they will in all probability "overplay
Pawar's role to ensure a rift between him and Sonia," a Pawar supporter alleged.
However, he felt Sonia would not dare to question Pawar at this juncture because she knows the former defence minister's hold in the party. "Pawar has the backing of a sizeable section of Congress MPs. I do not think Sonia will do anything to displease him," the Pawar loyalist added.
Sonia will also take up the recommendations of the Congress Task Force to revitalise the Pradesh Congress committees before Tuesday's meeting.
She will also establish the Congress president's office at the AICC
headquarters with a core team of leaders to assist her with the management of party affairs. Former Union minister Margaret Alva will be in charge of Sonia's new office at the AICC HQ.
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