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February 9, 1998

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Sonia wave compels Kesri to keep options open

E-Mail this story to a friend Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The tremendous response Sonia Gandhi is getting at her meetings has forced Congress president Sitaram Kesri to reconsider his political options.

This has energised Kesri's foes who have never lost an opportunity to taunt the party chief.

According to one Congress joint secretary, who was present at Sonia's Calcutta rally last week, Kesri could take it no longer when an over-enthusiastic Congress supporter yelled at him, "Kesriji, you can see Soniaji is our leader; you should resign in her favour." An affronted Kesri, the Congress official claimed, reportedly left the venue muttering under his breath. He has faced similar taunts during Sonia's rallies in Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Kesri supporters like party general secretary Tariq Anwar are far from amused when asked what options the Congress chief had now that Sonia appeared likely to take charge of party affairs after the election. Anwar agreed that Sonia was doing a great job, but keeps reminding anyone willing to listen that Kesri is still the party president and the Congress parliamentary party chief.

To Kesri's chagrin, his own support is dwindling swiftly, with his allies crossing over to Sonia's side. Madhavrao Scindia and V N Gadgil have repeatedly caused him to writhe in discomfort when they asserted that she was the party's undisputed leader.

A recent rumour spread by Kesri's adversaries insists that the party chief had already reconciled himself to being sidelined by Sonia. This campaign suggested that Kesri was now amenable to stepping down in her favour and looked forward to a tenure at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Kesri camp immediately refuted this rumour because it assumed that Kesri would remain in the political wilderness till President K R Narayanan stepped down in 2002. Anwar told reporters that the rumour was a deliberate effort to run Kesri down.

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