Commentary/Rajiv Shukla

As things stand, Kesri will not have to sweat it out

Will he, or won't he? Indications are he will, hands down.

As the race for the Congress presidentship unfolds, one thing is quite clear: the dissidence within the party is not organised enough to make Sitaram Kesri sweat. Had Maratha supremo and Congress Lok Sabha leader Sharad Pawar been in the fray, there would at least have been a fight. But with his opting not to take on Kesri, the dissident camp looks completely, utterly lost.

The organisational elections will take place during the first week of June and would be completed before June 10 as per the Election Commission schedule. After that the new Congress president will have to announce the dates for the plenary session. The election of the Congress Working Committee members will take place during this session.

And all this, as things stand today, are likely to fall into Kesri's hand.

The dissidents are extremely unhappy with Kesri's style of functioning; they say Kesri has alienated them completely. Now, they have no say in the appointments of pradesh returning officers. Most of these officials are being appointed by Kesri himself, and as these officials play a major role in the Pradesh Congress Committee and All India Congress Committee elections, the Kesri-opposers find themselves at a great disadvantage.

However, they haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory candidate as yet.

The names which are being proposed are of former Union minister Abdul Rehman Antulay and Rajesh Pilot. Former Bihar chief minister Dr Jagannath Mishra was also planning to contest, but decided to keep a low profile because of the CBI chargesheet against him in the fodder scam.

Both Antulay and Pilot do not have enough support on their own. They are not confident whether the Pawar camp would go with them, as Pawar has -- at least on the outside -- made up with Kesri.

The Kesri camp is of the view that both Antulay and Pilot will not contest finally. Both, they say, are threatening to contest only to bargain for CWC membership.

The dissidents had tried their level best to persuade senior Congress leaders like G Venkatswamy, Kunnoth Karunakaran, K Vijaybhaskar Reddy, Jitendra Prasada and Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik to enter the fray, but all had declined.

Those who are campaigning openly against Kesri include former ministers Matang Singh, Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi, Antulay, Jaganath Mishra, S S Ahluwalia and Vidya Charan Shukla. Pilot, with former prime minister Chandra Shekhar's help, is also believed to be active in the anti-Kesri campaign.

Kesri, meanwhile, is playing up to new Congresswoman, Sonia Gandhi. Though she would rather remain just another member, Kesri and several party bigwigs are falling over themselves offering her a CWC berth. And if she doesn't want that, well, at least a special invitee in the apex organ? Please?

But no, the lady is perfectly happy with being just another party member. At least for now.

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