Miffed Rao under pressure to turn to Sonia
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Things are all set to hot up within the Congress, with the P V Narasimha Rao camp girding up its loins to take on party president Sitaram Kesri over the denial of an election ticket to the former prime minister.
Rao's name has so far been ignored in the first list of party candidates released for Andhra Pradesh and Orissa recently. While Rao represented Nandyal in Andhra after the 1991 election, he was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from both Behrampore in Orissa and Nandyal. He, however, retained Behrampore.
Kesri has also not nominated former agriculture minister Balram Jakhar who was identified with the Rao camp. Bristling from such indignities, Rao's followers have been urging him to seek Sonia Gandhi's intervention.
True to style, Rao has not spoken a word so far about the treatment being meted out to him, but Jakhar ended two days of silence to lash out against Kesri, and charged that the party president had become power-drunk and a dictator. In a meeting with journalists, Jakhar stressed the necessity of throwing out Kesri from the party, and also hinted that he would extend all support for anyone undertaking such an endeavour.
The Rao camp's decision to take on Kesri came soon after it smelt a rat in the preparation of the Congress manifesto. The party president, they realised, was all set to lay the blame for the demolition of the Babri Masjid at the doors of the former prime minister, and that the Congress was seeking to absolve itself with the Muslim community by offering it numerous welfare packages.
The reason why Rao has so far not heeded the demands of his followers to appeal to Sonia is quite obvious. For it was during his prime ministership that the Jain Commission probing Rajiv Gandhi's assassination was nearly terminated, a decision that so infuriated Sonia that she lambasted the Rao government at a public meeting in Amethi.
While this background is keeping back Rao, his followers are convinced that she will have no problems burying the past, for she too feels sidelined within the party thanks to Kesri. Thus, she may heed the hoary saw that an enemy's enemy is a friend. In what could amount to digging his own grave within the party, Kesri told a television network recently that Sonia was not a prime ministerial candidate.
While Kesri has had a smooth run so far within the party, insiders say that even he did not anticipate the shock among partymen at the denial of a ticket to his predecessor. Even as he is trying to combat this, there is fresh trouble brewing for Kesri: a bulk of the party's regional satraps have called on Sonia to request her to take over the Congress Parliamentary Party, which would clearly put her in the reckoning for the top job when the time comes.
The reason that Kesri has managed to stifle voices within the party is through the exercise of the vast powers vested in the president by the party constitution. But things are certainly beginning to hot up even as Sonia sets out on the more ambitious part of her election campaign. And Rao's supporters are keen that he positions himself so that he finds himself on the winning side.
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