Pilot's remarks against CWC upsets Kesri

Congress president Sitaram Kesri has taken exception to Rajesh Pilot's remarks that he was given a raw deal in last week's Congress Working Committee election, which he lost by a narrow margin of four votes.

According to a senior leader attached to the Kesri faction, the party chief is upset with Pilot's contention that Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy was incorrectly declared elected in order to give representation to the southern states.

The Congress leader told Rediff On The NeT that Kesri is unhappy because Pilot's allegation is giving the impression that the CWC election had been rigged to favour the party chief's candidates. Kesri, who contacted Pilot over the telephone, told him that rushing to the press with demands for a recount of votes regarding the CWC poll was unnecessary and undesirable because the latter had already made the demand in Calcutta itself.

Kesri repeatedly rebuked Pilot for airing his grievances to the media. The Congress leader emphasised that Pilot's move could jeoparadise his chances of being nominated into the CWC. Kesri was earlier sympathetic to Pilot's plight of losing by four votes.

Meanwhile, there are indications that the election of Sharad Pawar, Arjun Singh, and Ghulam Nabi Azad to the CWC has infused Kesri's detractors with enthusiasm. Pawar and Arjun Singh have already met twice since their return from Calcutta to formulate a strategy against Kesri. The Pawar-Arjun Singh combine have told their supporters that since they won the CWC election on their own effort, they had nothing to fear and that they would question dubious decisions by the party leadership headed by Kesri.

Azad, who had virtually been jettisoned by Kesri from his panel for the CWC poll, too proved that he could garner sufficient votes (349) to win. Azad had campaigned among Congress delegates and the fact that they elected him showed that Kesri might not have a smooth sailing in party affairs from now on.