The latest book of senior Congress leader Makhan lal Fotedar, The Chinar leaves, seems to have motivated party leaders to rally behind Rahul Gandhi. leaders, who were earlier not willing to see Rahul as the party president and were talking of the ‘right time’ only to defer the decision, are now backing him. Sources say that many veteran leaders had expressed apprehension that there was danger of a rebellion in the party if Rahul takes charge. But now, only a handful of leaders are still advocating this theory.
However, Sonia Gandhi does not agree with this. She has told apprehensive leaders that the party had fought the lok Sabha Elections under the leadership of Rahul and was badly defeated. She also said that after the lok Sabha Elections, the Congress has been defeated in seven States one after another, and even then most of the party leaders and workers stood behind Rahul, and hence the apprehensions are baseless.
The second logic to defer Rahul’s coronation was that no other party would be keen to tie up with the Congress on his name. But this theory also fell flat, case in point being Nitish Kumar forging an alliance with the Congress.
Though party leaders are more apprehensive of Nitish as they think if he wins the Bihar polls, he will pose a bigger danger for Rahul’s leadership. However, Sonia is now active after questions were raised in Fotedar’s book. It is she who is motivating party leaders to support her son.
THAKUR lEADERS’ controversies
Fotedar’s book The Chinar leaves has raked up a controversy even before hitting the stands. Apart from various ‘explosive’ revelations, the book contains some controversies involving Thakur leaders. Though Fotedar’s close aides reveal that he never had any personal grudge with anyone, it was either due to Indira or Rajiv Gandhi or for the sake of the party that he had disagreements with some leaders.
Special mention has been given to senior leader of the Congress, Karan Singh, and his relative Madhavrao Scindia. Fotedar has written on Karan Singh at length. According to him, Karan Singh had played a crucial role in maintaining the ‘throne’ of Sheila Dikshit in Delhi.
When the Congress was defeated in Delhi on all seats in 1999 lok Sabha Elections, Sonia wanted to change the command in Delhi, but Karan Singh came to the rescue of Sheila, and in lieu of that she gave him a place in Rajya Sabha. The then Delhi CM had argued that Karan Singh fought bravely on the lucknow seat against Atal Bihari Vajpayee and must be given his due. Karan Singh certainly got the seat, but in the UPA regime he could not become a minister.
Fotedar has written that Indira had advised Rajiv to not give a ministerial berth to Madhavrao Scindia at any point of time. But Rajiv made him a minister anyway. later, when the Vajpayee Government didn’t win the confidence motion by one vote, Scindia sabotaged the Congress and manipulated the situation in such a way that the party was not able to form the Government.
Scindia was aware that Sonia wanted to see Manmohan Singh as the PM. So, with the help of Amar Singh he coaxed Mulayam Singh Yadav to not support the Congress. It is said that after this incident, many leaders went against Manmohan and he was defeated from the South Delhi seat.
The third Thakur leader to get a mention in Fotedar’s book is Natwar Singh. He writes that once on Sonia’s instructions, he along with Natwar had gone to VP Singh to talk about the political situation. Fotedar writes that Natwar started discussing Sonia’s family problems with VP Singh. When they came out, Fotedar told Natwar that he shouldn’t have spoken about Sonia’s personal problems. later, Natwar apparently went to Sonia and complained that it was Fotedar who was discussing her with VP Singh.
FOTEDAR AND RESIGNATIONS
Fotedar has expressed unhappiness with Sonia on many issues. One of the incidents is the resignation of Sitaram Kesri. After becoming the party president, Kesri had tried to sideline the Gandhi family in the same manner PV Narasimha Rao had tried, but hadn’t succeeded. At that time, leaders who were loyal to the Gandhi family didn’t allow Kesri to work and as a result he had to resign.
Fotedar has written that when he went to Kesri to get his resignation, Kesri warned him that Sonia would not give him anything. Fotedar further writes that Kesri had given him an indication about Sonia and had said that “she would never give you anything irrespective of how faithful you are”. Despite that Fotedar returned with Kesri’s resignation.
In the same manner, it was Fotedar who took the resignation of Amitabh Bachchan as Allahabad MP. Bachchan, a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, came under attack after the Bofors issue, and Rajiv’s advisors wanted him to resign. Rajiv called Bachchan to his house to discuss the matter. But even after two hours of discussion, he could not tell him to resign. Then Rajiv took Bachchan to Fotedar’s house and said that he wanted to convey something. And then Fotedar told the filmstar to resign, he writes in his book.
BJP GOES All OUT IN BIHAR
The BJP is leaving no stone unturned in Bihar. The party had decided to conduct all kinds of experiments in the elections. To send a clear message on the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has announced that the Government will issue a notification after the Bihar elections.
It is to be noted that ex-servicemen had decided to go to Bihar to campaign against the BJP. But before that, the Government accepted their demands, but a notification could not be issued due to the Assembly Elections. Now, Parrikar has said that the Government will issue it after Diwali.
In the same manner, PM Narendra Modi has announced that there will be no interview for Group B, C and D jobs in the Central Government from next year. leaders of Bihar’s grand alliance have complained to the Election Commission, but they know such complaints don’t mean much. Also, when PM Modi talked about Ambedkar’s house in london, he was trying to woo the Dalit voters.
Not only this, Modi indirectly opposed reservation for Muslims. It must be noted that in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the Congress Governments had made provisions for 5 per cent reservations to Muslims, which was quashed by the Supreme Court. Moreover, PM has time and again said that he is from the Extreme Backward Class (EBC), thus trying to address a lager vote bank.
POlARISATION IN UTTAR PRADESH
In Uttar Pradesh, attempts to polarise voters have started with the help of senior leader of the Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan. The Assembly Elections are scheduled for 2017, but before that leaders of SP and BJP have accelerated their politics. That is the reason why the Congress and BSP are worried. leaders of both parties have raised speculation that the SP and BJP are colluding to promote communal polarisation.
However, Sangeet Singh Som, BJP MlA of Sardhana in western UP, has said that if the party comes to power in the State, then Azam Khan will be sent to jail. BJP leaders know well that Azam’s personality is suitable for polarisation. Azam recently sent a letter to the UN over the Dadri incident. He also asked UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon to give him time for a meeting.
On the other hand, Azam has also not let go of the Dadri and beef issues. He has given many controversial statements. He has targeted leaders who are opposing cow slaughter and has said that proper arrangements must be made to bury dead cows. His statement has made leaders of the BJP and other Hindu organisations restless, but they think that their war with Azam will continue. Meanwhile, the Congress and BSP are also looking for counter-measures.
DADRI AND THE GOVERNMENT
Though top leaders of BJP gave delayed reaction to the Dadri incident, the party and the Government are worried about its effect. It is being said that BJP leaders first assessed the impact of the incident in the country and overseas and then started giving positive reactions. Sources say the incident occurred on September 28 and a report was submitted to the Government on October 4 in which its impact on media and social media was assessed. The report stated that the incident has made a dent in Modi’s image, thereby weakening his campaign. Even Shiv Sena has said that Dadri is a bigger blot than the ink incident.
However, the report stated that after his US visit, Modi’s popularity was on its peak. He got maximum publicity during this visit. It is being said that the electronic and media monitoring cell of the Government has said in its report that a negative environment is being created for the party, the Government and the PM.
Probably after this report, senior ministers have became active. First, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and then I&B Minister Arun Jaitley condemned the incident, and later the PM expressed concern. Amit Shah first condemned the incident and then chided party leaders who had given controversial statements.