Kesri incurs Sonia's wrath
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia is furious with Congress president Sitaram Kesri.
Kesri has reportedly defied Sonia at the height of his wrangle with West Bengal stormy petrel Mamata Banerjee.
Convinced that Mamata's petrel departure would affect the party's chances in West Bengal, Sonia came up with a rapprochement formula. Kesri is reported to have rejected the formula, incurring Sonia's wrath.
This is the reason why former MP Mani Shankar Aiyar has resigned from the party, joining the splinter faction of Tamil Nadu leader Vazapadi Ramamurthy.
Widely known to be close to Sonia, Aiyar has reportedly raised the
banner of revolt against Kesri, seeking his dismissal from the party. Political circles feel that Aiyar has left the Congress, following a hint from Number 10 Janpath, Sonia's official residence.
In a bid to restore Kesri-Mamata amity, Sonia had requested the party
chief to make the West Bengal firebrand the chairperson of the
party's state election committee.
This would have cooled tempers as Mamata would have got an opportunity to accommodate her supporters in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
The party chief, however, paid heed to West Bengal Congress chief Somen Mitra's advice. However, despite the latter's opposition to Mamata's elevation, Kesri made her the state campaign committee chief.
This was not what Sonia had desired. Yet she kept silent.
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But Aiyar decided to lash out against Kesri and lost no time in quitting the party.
Significantly, Aiyar yesterday told Rediff On The Net that he was fighting the parliamentary elections from two places -- from Tamil Nadu as a member of the Ramamurthy faction and from West Bengal as a candidate of Mamata's Trinamool Congress.
Kesri is now in deep trouble as he has already earned a host of political foes within the party.
Kesri is being pilloried from various quarters for defying Sonia, considered the Congress's sole vote-catcher by partymen. ''Kesri now does not have to fight the elections. He has committed political harakiri,'' said a senior Congress leader. ''He would preside over the demise of the party, which cannot get more than 70 seats.''
The leader's bleak depiction of the party's electoral prospects may well turn out to be true. The Congress has failed to forge an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham in Tamil Nadu
and has antagonised Mamata who will give the party a run for its money.
Barring former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress will have to go it alone in most places.
In the depressing scenario, the Congress leadership has hired the services of a public relations firm, Perfect Relations in the fond hope of capturing vital votes in the parliamentary polls.
Kesri also called a meeting of the Congress campaign Committee today to take stock of the situation.
EARLIER REPORT:
Mamata gets the axe
Sonia breaks her silence for Mamata
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