The dissidence in Assam Congress, despite party president Sonia Gandhi’s intervention, has become a cause of concern for the party amid growing disgruntlement in other Congress-ruled States like Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Haryana.
A day after Sonia asked Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to continue “for the time being”, the 45 rebel MlAs are attempting to meet the Governor directly. While the AICC on Friday decided to send senior Congress leader Motilal Vohra as Central Observer to Assam, former Home Minister and senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde has come to the rescue of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
AICC sources said that the rebel MlAs will take their call on meeting the Governor JB Patnaik after Vohra’s advice. Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also reportedly leading the anti-Gogoi camp, said that Vohra would be taking the views of the 45 MlAs individually and after that a meeting of the ClP will be convened to decide the future course of action. “As he (Motilal Vohra) is coming in the next couple of days, we have decided to temporarily suspend our meeting with the Governor,” he said. Sarma said the intention is not to break Congress in Assam but put up a united and strengthened Congress to win the 2016 Assembly elections.
For his part, Shinde, who had suggested setting up of a “fact-finding committee” to look into the reasons for the massive defeat of the Congress in Maharashtra, came out in support of Prithviraj Chavan, whose leadership credentials have been questioned in the wake of the poor show in the polls.
“Chavan is an efficient Chief Minister and not advisable to effect changes in Government and party ahead of the Assembly elections,” Shinde, who himself lost elections from his Solapur lok Sabha seat, said. Senior Congress leader and State Industry Minister Narayan Rane after the review meeting said he would make his stand clear after a week.
The party also has to worry about Haryana where there have been reports of differences within the present leadership in the State Government and the PCC which saw a complete overhaul just before the elections. “Haryana is facing election in October and the biggest problem there will be to manage things with three different camps,” said an AICC functionary.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, PCC president Ashok Tanwar and former Union Minister Kumari Selja have not been in good terms and this is considered as one of the reasons for the dismal performance in the hustings.
In Uttarakhand, where the Congress is running a minority Government and had to effect a change of guard just before the polls, has again reported resentment due to former Congressman Satpal Maharaj switching sides to the BJP. Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Amrita Rawat, wife of Satpal Maharaj, was sacked by Chief Minister Harish Rawat from the State Cabinet and an Independent MlA was sworn in as Minister instead.
The development came as trouble brewed in the ruling Congress with a section of leaders questioning her loyalty after the party’s lok Sabha poll debacle. Amrita has already hit back saying the Chief Minister should take moral responsibility for the defeat.
Also, a delegation of Congress leaders from Telangana, where too it faced a drubbing, met Rahul Gandhi and extended their support to him for strengthening the party in the newly-carved out State. The Congress won only one lok Sabha seat and 21 Assembly seats in the just-concluded polls.