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Sonia fiddles while the Congress seethes

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Congress dissidence in Bihar, Gujarat and Delhi again threatens to undermine party chief Sonia Gandhi's authority. But party crisis managers are ignoring the possibility that the matter could go out of control.

Congress members in Delhi, including Ram Niwas Mirdha, the party's Central Election Authority chairman, and other senior party MPs, are reportedly sore with Sonia for denying them Rajya Sabha nominations. A media report today indicated that Mirdha was now refusing to oblige her on the postponement of crucial organisational elections.

Three members of the state's legislative council in Bihar -- former state Congress boss Sarfraz Ahmed, Nilambar Chaudhary and Mahachandra Prasad Singh -- have written an angry letter to Sonia, saying their omission from the Rabri cabinet could not be tolerated. They also said the upper house could not be ignored when the ministry was formed.

Former Gujarat Congress chief Chhabildas Mehta launched a frontal assault on the Congress chief yesterday, saying that the party was consistently going downhill because of her lack of leadership and because she patronised members of her coterie. Mehta urged her to give up her claim for prime ministership and continue as party chief.

However, the Congress leaders try to downplay these developments within the party and claim they lack sufficient information about them.

Questioned about Mirdha's reported differences with Sonia, Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi said, "Mirdhaji is the chairman of our central election authority, which is an autonomous body. If you have any questions pertaining to him, he is the best person to answer them."

He gave a similar answer to reporters who asked him to react to Chhabildas Mehta's demand that Sonia Gandhi give up her claim to the prime ministership.

Attempts by Sonia loyalists to downplay Mirdha's comments have not been very effective since the latter has considerable standing in the party.

"If Ram Niwas Mirdhaji does not think it is prudent to delay Congress organisational elections, he must have very cogent reasons. Wrong signals do go out if they are not held in time. He is a widely respected partyman and, therefore, his utterances cannot be taken lightly," said senior party member Rajesh Pilot.

But Pilot himself is involved in a controversial issue. In a farmers' rally in Deoband Uttar Pradesh, Pilot had said that despite the Congress beginning the liberalisation process, it was the urban people who had got richer while the rural poor had become poorer. He made an impassioned plea for a review of the party's economic policies, especially those pertaining to the agriculture sector.

Congress sources said Mirdha's differences with the party chief had also emboldened other party members to speak out against her. One such member is former Union minister and chairman of the party's foreign cell Kunwar Natwar Singh. He has been denied a nomination to the Rajya Sabha and has been telling other MPs that he has been given a raw deal.

The MLCs in Bihar, meanwhile, have threatened that unless they "get justice," they will not remain silent.

Congress MLAs Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu and Abdul Jalil Mastan did not turn up to take the oaths as ministers of state in the Rabri government. It is well known that they are upset about not getting cabinet berths. Congress sources say that they had also told Sonia that they would not rest until the chief minister gave them cabinet berths.

While other Congress MLAs have assured Sonia that these MLCs will fall in line, the party chief and her men aren't sure. This is because Balmuchu and Mastan have got in touch with the disgruntled MLCs, a move that could erode the central leadership, which had forsaken its Pachmarhi declaration and agreed to form a coalition government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.

While the party dissidents have been unable to directly challenge her leadership, attacks from senior leader like Mirdha could lead to more dissidence, the sources said.

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