The tussle over leadership in the Congress may not be as evident as it is in the BJP, but this doesn’t mean that there is no tension. Several Congress leaders feel that this might just be the last stint of Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
This, because former Telecom Minister A Raja, in his more than 100-page note, has written how Singh and Chidambaram were aware of every decision he took back then. He has even raised a question over the report submitted by Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chairman PC Chako, which has given a clean chit to both the leaders.
The draft report and Raja’s note will be the highlight at the JPC meeting. The Opposition will go all out to pin down Singh and Chidambaram, citing Raja’s note. This note will also play an important role during the legal proceedings.
So, all those leaders who are not very happy with Singh’s rule and are anti-Chidambaram will be going all out on Raja’s note.
On a booth drive
leaders meeting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi are amazed. They say that leadership and policy programmes are not his agenda. His focus, these days, is on creating booth committees. Directives to this effect have been given to leaders in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh because the Congress doesn’t have sufficient workers in these three States.
In Bihar and UP, the situation is so grim that the party got lesser votes than its members in the Assembly elections. A Bihar party leader questioned the formation of these committees. “When there are no people who will vote for the party, why create a booth committees,” he asks.
Senior party leaders say that Rahul is talking of booth committees because former Prime Minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, used to talk about them. The debate over its formation had been initiated by Oscar Fernandes during Rajiv Gandhi’s time.
Not a blue-eyed boy
Once, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was considered the messiah of Muslims. However, things have changed after he praised BJP ideologue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and lK Advani. His image had first taken a beating when he supported former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in the 2009 elections, which the BJP leader contested and won as Independent.
So, in the Assembly elections last year, Mulayam had personally gone to all Muslim leaders to apologise. It was only after his apology that the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, Dar-ul-uloom Deoband and the All India Muslim Personal law Board agreed to support the SP.
But a year has passed since then and things have taken a turn once again. At a recent meeting, Bukhari said that Mayawati should work for the betterment of Muslims in the same way as she has done for the Dalits.
The Dar-ul-uloom Deoband has criticised Mulayam. Recently, vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal law Board and eminent Shia cleric Maulana Syed Kalbe Sadiq refused to accept the honour given to him at a polio eradication programme by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. He walked out of the programme.
Batting for women
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is personally keeping tabs on all women-related issues. Sources say that it was because of her initiative that the anti-rape law became a reality. After the brutal rape of the five-year-old from East Delhi, Sonia Gandhi has once again taken up the issue of safety of women and pitched for the creation of a special team to look into women-related issues and take fast action. But social-activist-turned politician and founder of Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal had mooted the idea of such a committee much before Sonia.
Meanwhile, Sonia also wants to get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Parliament. Despite the hindrances, the Bill is likely to be debated upon in the ongoing session.
Age no barIJ
Speculation is rife that the BJP and the RSS are heading for a verbal duel. Sources say that the RSS has directed the BJP to retire all old leaders and not give them tickets for the 2014 lok Sabha elections. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had issued a similar directive earlier too — that all BJP leaders over 75 years old need to retire.
But just the reverse is happening in the BJP. All of a sudden, the elderly have become active. And, many younger leaders have come forward in support of their elders. Shatrughan Sinha, MP from Patna Sahib, has reportedly said that while there is a need for young leaders, fathers and grandfather should not be ignored.
So, besides lK Advani who is 85, there is 72-year-old Kalraj Mishra, 76-year-old Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh, 77-year-old Karia Munda, 78-year-old Shanta Kumar, 81-year-old Kalyan Singh, CP Thakur, VK Malhotra and 83-year-old Kailash Joshi. While many feel that they should retire, these leaders don’t think so.
The retirement issue needs to be solved alongwith the leadership issue.
Akhilesh on a roll
People talk about many qualities of Akhilesh Yadav. But very few know that he has a sense of humour and makes shrewd political comments. What he said about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi is an excellent example. Akhilesh had said that Rahul and Modi are leaders of CII and FICCI, while his father Mulayam is the leader of farmers and labourers.
Akhilesh also said that Rahul is considered the leader of the future but nobody knows when that future will come. By making such statements, Akhilesh has exposed the dilemma that Rahul Gandhi finds himself in. It has been nine months since the Congress scion joined active politics but is yet to make his stand clear.
Interestingly, this is the first time that Akhilesh has made a direct comment about Rahul. Till now, the two had avoided taking potshots at each other. Akhilesh, though, has made attacks on Modi who, he said, only has a presence in Gujarat and in the Press. He has also pointed out that despite Modi campaigning in UP, the BJP had not benefitted much from it.
Karat’s third front
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat is treading carefully. In the last lok Sabha elections, he had left no stone unturned for the Third Front to be formed. After his failure to topple the UPA-I Government on the nuclear deal, he took it upon himself to ensure that the Congress was on its toes.
Karat had steered the left’s campaign against the nuclear deal with the US and had withdrawn support on the issue.
It was Mulayam who had bailed the Government out back then. So Karat played the Mayawati card. The BSP chief was made a part of a rally organised by Karat which was also attended by former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra.
Despite this, however, the Third Front could not be formed. So, this time round, Karat is more cautious. Till date, he has not taken any initiative to form a Third Front or a pre-poll alliance. It is CPI leader AB Bardhan and Mulayam who have initiated the process.
There is speculation that Karat will move in this direction soon. Mulayam is already in touch with NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Talk has it that Karat might initiate a dialogue with Naidu, Deve Gowda and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. For now, though, things are under wraps.
Cajoling mulayam
The Congress and UPA-II troubleshooters were confident that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will support the UPA-II Government, come what may. But, of late, Mulayam’s attitude towards the Centre has changed. So, these managers have to chalk out a strategy to ensure that Mulayam doesn’t feel miffed.
When Mulayam met NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the Congress did not take the meeting very seriously. This is because the Congress is aware of Pawar’s limitations and his stake in Maharashtra politics. But when, recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai, the alarm bells went off in the Congress.
The crisis managers immediately held a meeting with Mulayam. Sources say that he told them that Akhilesh’s meeting with Jayalalithaa was with regards to post-poll preparations. This means that Mulayam has put a post-poll strategy in place already.
However, despite the assurance given by the SP chief, the Congress feels that Jayalalithaa wants mid-term polls. Even Mulayam wants the General Election this November. So the Akhilesh-Jayalalithaa meet is being viewed as a game plan to topple the UPA-II Government.
The fact that Mulayam is said to have rejected the findings of the Joint Parliamentary Committee report regarding the telecom scam is also causing the Congress managers some worry.