In almost all States, Congress presidents are being appointed by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The appointments were finalised after Rahul was made vice-president at the Chintan Shivir at Jaipur in January this year. Every candidate has been hand-picked by Rahul.
Prominent tribal leader Sukhdeo Bhagat was chosen by Rahul to become Jharkhand State unit president. The appointment of Jayadev Jena as Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president, replacing Niranjan Patnaik, was also Rahul’s decision. Two years back, when Patnaik was made president of Odisha Congress, Jena was a contender for the post even though he was working alongside Digvijay Singh as co-incharge of Uttar Pradesh.
Even at that time, Rahul had wanted Jena as Jharkhand president but Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed Patnaik instead.
Similarly, in Jharkhand, Rahul had been in favour of Bhagat for a long time. But due to some internal party organisation problems, Pradeep K Balmuchu had, instead, been given an extension. But once the problem was sorted out, the command of the State went to Bhagat.
Even the decision to appoint Ashok Chaudhary as Bihar Congress head was taken by Rahul. In Punjab, the decision to give the command to Partap Singh Bajwa and to make Janardan Chandurkar State president was taken by Rahul.
It appears that Rahul is slowly but steadily trying to bring in new faces to the fore.
Sibal game plan
Two years back, when A Raja had to resign when the telecom scam came to light, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was given additional charge of the Telecom Ministry. For the next year, he handled both the Ministries. When the Cabinet reshuffle took place, he made it clear he wanted to continue as Telecom Minister. The HRD Ministry went to Dr Pallam Raju.
Now, once again due to the resignation of law Minister Ashwini Kumar, Sibal has been given additional charge of the law Ministry. Source say that he wants to continue as law Minister and not just handle it as an additional charge.
In fact, he has said that he will soon chalk out a plan for the law Ministry for the next year. He had promised a similar plan for the HRD Ministry but not a single plan could be executed. When almost all projects that he had undertaken failed, Sibal abandoned the Ministry.
Now, as law Minister, he was two priorities. First, to show the people the true face of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Second, though he has not said so in words, to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coalgate scam.
Punctured
Rahul Gandhi has, time and again, said that the Congress will not give tickets to partymen who frequently change parties. However, this rule was not applicable to candidates given tickets in Karnataka where many dal badlus got to contest. Interestingly, all of them have won. So, the party has decided to do away with Rahul’s directives in this case.
The by-election in Bihar’s Maharajganj is an example. The party has given a ticket to Jitendra Swami, son of the Umashankar Singh, an RJD MP. His death has necessitated the by-polls. With Swami in fray, the Maharajganj seat is expected to see a triangular fight between the JD(U), RJD and Congress.
Earlier, there were rumours that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will give the ticket to Swami, but Nitish changed his mind and gave the ticket to his Education Minister PK Shahi.
Even Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief lalu Prasad Yadav didn’t give a ticket to Swami. Instead, he gave it to Prabhunath Singh. A dejected Swami went to the Congress and the party gave him the ticket immediately.
It appears that the Congress is all set to put many such holes in Rahul’s rules and strategies in the coming months.
KIssa CM ka
When K Siddaramaiah took oath last week as the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka, expectations of two former Chief Ministers who have come been included into the Congress increased. Narayan Rane in Maharashtra (former Sena strongman from Konkan) and SS Vaghela (ex-BJP) in Gujarat have become hopeful that, as outsiders, they can also become Chief Ministers in their respective States.
last time, the Congress has fought the Gujarat election under Vaghela’s leadership. After the elections, the Congress had had to make a lot of effort to make him leader of Opposition and appoint him as Congress legislative Party leader.
In Maharashtra, the Congress has changed its Chief Ministers several times in last 10-12 years, but Rane, who had joined the party, never got the chance. The argument — he is from Shiv Sena.
But now, Rane’s and Vaghela’s chances have increased with Siddaramaiah heading Karnataka despite the having always targeted the Congress while in JD(S). Siddaramaiah had joined the Congress only six years back.
love-hate ties
The BJP State unit leaders in Bihar and the JD(U) are once again friends, or so it appears. When PK Shahi, a JD(U) candidate had gone to file his papers for Maharajganj by-polls, many senior BJP leaders in the State were also present. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, former Bihar BJP president Nand Kishore Yadav and BJP national general secretary and spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy were present at the time of filing the papers. They also gave a speech later. The JD(U) is a bit taken aback with all the friendliness and co-operation that the BJP has shown.
The bye-election to the Maharajganj lok Sabha seat is more than a mere electoral contest. It will be a reality check on the unity of the NDA, given the declining trust between the JD(U) and the BJP. Hence, it is important and a prestige issue for Nitish Kumar who would want to wrest the seat from Prabhunath Singh, an RJD candidate.
Meanwhile, while the BJP leaders were busy supporting Shahi’s candidature, JD(U) MP RCP Sinha, who is close to Nitish Kumar, was busy taking potshots at the BJP.
At a function in Motihari, Sinha is reported to have said that if a person from the backward class becomes the next Prime Minister, he will be from Bihar. Sinha’s statement was targeted at Sushil Modi who had batted for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate and called him the most well-known backward caste leader nationally.
Sushil had said that the “next Prime Minister should be from the backward class. Modi has never talked about his background to seek votes. But he doesn’t come from a privileged background. He overcame poverty to kickstart his political career and has now reached great heights.”
Cong one up
The BJP leaders are busy these days. They are propagating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has started taking independent decisions — he no longer listens to Sonia Gandhi.
Two thinkers who follow RSS ideologies were reported to have said during a programme on TV that Manmohan Singh has started working like his mentor former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao who would listen to what Sonia had to say but did what he thought was right. There is also talk about the Congress Core Group versus the Congress Kaur Group. It is said that the Kaur Group — the Punjabi lobby — has become more powerful.
But then, the Congress gave a befitting answer. The party removed two UPA-II Government Ministers — former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and former law Minister Ashwini Kumar — who were close to the Prime Minister. Bansal was perceived to be involved in his nephew’s misdemeanours so his exit was eminent but the Prime Minister wanted to save Ashwini Kumar. After all, the Minister had changed the CBI report only to save the Prime Minister.
With the two Ministers out of the picture, the BJP’s propaganda has flopped. So, its leaders are back to singing the old tune — that Manmohan is a Sonia puppet.
Congress allies upset
After Congress’ win in Karnataka, party leaders are on cloud nine. However, a statement made by its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), may douse the joy. Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said that results of Karnataka Assembly elections will not affect the outcome of the 2014 lok Sabha elections. In other words, the Congress should not dream that it will win next General Election.
The only reason Pawar made this statement was because he wanted to drive home the truth that the Congress has won in Karnataka due to the anti-BJP wave in the State. The Congress didn’t win because it had done great work in the State, but because the BJP had become weak and BS Yeddyurappa had taken away a large chunk of the saffron votebank. Another factor was the Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress of BS Sriramulu, a BJP-breakaway leader.
Does this mean that Pawar is upset with Congress’ win in KarnatakaIJ Sources say that it is not just Pawar but also Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and BSP chief Mayawati who are unsettled with Karnataka going to the Congress. This is because if the Congress had lost, it would have had to take a soft stand towards its alliance partners. The win has emboldened them.