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Turf wars break out in Congress as Sonia magic wears out

George Iype in New Delhi

Even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi grapples with the growing disunity in the party on the eve of the state assembly election, senior leaders try to outdo each other in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and threaten to bare the reality of party disunity.

Three weeks back, Sonia publicly announced that tickets would be distributed to deserving candidates with no criminal records. This has forced thousands of ticket seekers from Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to rush to the party headquarters in New Delhi without their names being cleared by the respective pradesh Congress committees.

But as the lists of candidates are being finalised, senior Congress Working Committee members have noticed that controversial party workers with criminal cases have been approved by Sonia.

And in an attempt to be Mr Clean in the ticket distribution process, the party's second top leader and floor leader in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar on Tuesday submitted to Sonia names of at least 10 candidates from Madhya Pradesh whom he says are "criminals".

The names that Pawar wants removed include P C Sharma, the official candidate from Bhopal, and Karnal Singh from Gobindpura.

Pawar and other Sonia-critics in the CWC like Jitendra Prasada, Pranab Mukherjee, R K Dhawan and Sitaram Kesri have also put forward before Sonia another demand: project Nawal Kishore Sharma as the party's chief ministerial candidate of Rajasthan.

Added to Sonia's bundle of worries is the public outburst from former Rajiv loyalist S S Ahluwalia who has severely criticised the party for ignoring the Sikhs in Delhi.

Though Sonia supporters in the CWC have demanded Ahluwalia's expulsion, sources said the Congress chief fears that any strict action against the former Union minister will be catastrophic for the party at this juncture.

"Ahluwalia may be a non-entity in the party. But any action against a Sikh leader like him will result in the party's defeat in Delhi because the Sikh vote is very crucial for us," a Congress functionary told Rediff On The NeT.

He said instead of banishing Ahluwalia from the party, Sonia's immediate task should be to rein in the infighting between top leaders for their share of seats in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Many in the party feel despite the Congress's claim to be united under Sonia, the reality is otherwise.

In Delhi, Sonia and her loyalists in the CWC -- Rajesh Pilot, Purno A Sangma, Manmohan Singh, Oscar Fernandes, Arjun Singh, A K Antony, K Karunakaran, K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy and Ahmed Patel -- want Pradesh Congress chief Shiela Dikshit to be the chief ministerial candidate.

But the Pawar-Prasada-Dhawan group opposes Dikshit's candidature claiming that she is an upstart in Delhi politics and therefore can ruin the party's chances in the city. They have also demanded that the party leadership deny tickets to controversial leaders like H K L Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar who are alleged to have masterminded the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.

In Rajasthan, where the Congress hopes to seize power from the BJP, there are three active groups in the party. While the Sonia lobby wants former Union minister K Natwar Singh to be the chief minister, Pawar loyalists in the CWC are rooting for Nawal Kishore Sharma, and Pradesh Congress committee chief Ashok Gehlot has refused to lead the party if he is denied the chief ministership.

In Madhya Pradesh, infighting is on between four groups which Congress insiders say has nearly ruined the party's prospects of retaining power.

While Chief Minister Digvijay Singh claims his "right" to lead the party in MP, three prominent leaders from the state -- Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia and Ajit Jogi -- have submitted their lists of candidates to Sonia for approval.

"Every Congress leader is trying to impress Sonia and win her over. But the Congress president doesn't know how to manage these pulls and pressures. Therefore, she serves tickets on a first come, first served basis," one Congress leader commented.

Many feel the biggest problem the Congress faces today is Sonia's inability to stamp her authority on the CWC and quell divisions within the party's state units and her dependence on advice from a coterie of leaders.

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