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Reddy not ready to tame Cong rebels

The Congress leadership is facing a piquant situation over senior party leader K Vijaybhaskar Reddy's virtual refusal to summon the disciplinary action committee to 'tame' outspoken critics of party chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The committee will be summoned when the leadership thinks it necessary. Why should it be summoned according to the whims and fancies of the media, which continues speculating in this context," said senior party leader and chairman of its central election committee, Ram Niwas Mirdha.

Ever since he was denied nomination to the Rajya Sabha, Reddy, chairman of the party's disciplinary action committee, returned to Hyderabad, where he is reportedly "not in good health", a party worker from Andhra Pradesh pointed out.

Media reports had indicated that Reddy is sulking as Sonia denied him the nomination. Earlier, he had appended his signature to a disciplinary action committee document expelling Matang Singh (a diehard follower of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao). Soon after Matang's expulsion, Reddy was denied the nomination and media reports speculated that he had been "used" by the party chief to get Matang out.

Significantly, the proxy war between Sonia's outspoken critics like Jitendra Prasada and Rajesh Pilot and camp followers of the party chief led by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Salman Khursheed, rekindled the demand to summon the disciplinary action committee to take action against "dissidents".

"I have already stated that those unnecessarily criticising our party chief are welcome to leave the party. If they continue their baseless tirade against her, it is only natural that disciplinary action will be taken against the culprits," Khursheed told rediff.com.

But he did not comment on whether the party's disciplinary action committee would be summoned to consider the rebels' cases.

Followers of Prasada in UP have demanded that he be party chief of the state unit as it has been in the doldrums under Khursheed. Significantly, soon after Prasada and Pilot held two rallies in Jhansi and Lucknow, where Khursheed's absence is notable (he was not invited), he went to Delhi and after consulting Sonia issued a statement against her critics, including Prasada and Pilot.

Mirdha, however, did not agree that he had any grievance against the Congress chief. "I cannot speak for others, but I am a loyal soldier of the party and will sort out disagreements within the party. I do not rush to the media with grievances, real or imaginary," he pointed out.

Significantly, Mirdha recently asserted in Thiruvananthapuram that he had full faith in Sonia's leadership and that she had wide acceptance in the Congress. His statement apparently contradicted media reports that after being denied a nomination, Mirdha was resentful, which was why he had delayed organisational polls to elect a new party chief. However, the Congress chief will now be elected in September-end.

Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi felt that "in a big party like ours, intra-party democracy prevails and that is why there is disagreement among certain leaders." He refused to acknowledge there was friction between the pro- and anti-Sonia factions, underscoring that "Congress members are unanimous that Sonia is our party chief who is supreme and her authority is unchallenged".

Despite assertions by Sonia loyalists that she is the supreme leader, they have not been able to persuade Reddy to summon the disciplinary action committee.

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