Sonia: desi sentiments, Roman scriptAt a meeting of the congress Coordination Committee attended, among others, by Jitendra Prasada, Arjun Singh, Makhan Lal Fotedar and Ghulam Nabi Azad, there was a suggestion that Sonia Gandhi's picture be published on the cover of the party manifesto.To their surprise, the Congress' star campaigner demurred, saying the photo should be that of party President Sitaram Kesri. The next morning, a triumphant Kesri smiled and posed for the photograph that adorns the cover of the Congress manifesto.But as it turned out, that was perhaps the only concession Sonia has made to Kesri. Seemingly reluctant to join politics, Sonia, however, has been a determined traveller from Sriperumbudur on January 11 to Rohtak two weeks later. Her sure-footedness, be it taking Bofors into the enemy camp or expressing anguish over Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 or following the Arjun Singh strategy of appealing to a coalition of minorities, suggests that she is moving briskly on a predetermined course. The newly appointed AICC Joint Secretary Manish Tiwari perhaps sums it up best. "Sonia," he says, "is the natural leader of the party. She will occupy her natural place in the party after the polls."That's not good news for Kesri who prides himself as the "elected president" of the Congress. His election-eve activism has been limited to handing the New Delhi constituency ticket to R.K. Dhawan and the expulsion of Mamata Banerjee from the party. .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}For the rest, it is Sonia who is calling the shots in the distribution - and denial - of tickets to aspirants. A party insider revealed that Suresh Pachouri, chairman of the Congress Seva Dal, would go to Kesri's 7 Purana Qila Road residence at night, collect the list of candidates in a sealed cover and take them to Sonia's secretary Vincent George.It is no secret that the trio of Fotedar, Arjun Singh and Prasada - known to be close to the Gandhi family - played a key role in the distribution of tickets. Along with Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Narain Dutt Tiwari, they virtually formed a mini election committee to select the contestants in Uttar Pradesh. Kesri's close aide Tariq Anwar preferred not to interfere. Arjun Singh ensured that Devendra Dwivedi, former AICC general secretary and a Narasimha Rao acolyte, was denied the Varanasi Lok Sabha ticket and Ratnakar Pandey got it. His personal physician Vijay Khera got the Jhansi seat while associate Arun Kumar Singh "Munna" got Jaunpur. And it was Prasada who clinched the deal with Ajit Singh's Bhartiya Kisan Kaamgar Party and negotiated the seat adjustments with the minor Apna Dal and Muslim Majlis in the state. Kesri probably read about these developments in the newspapers.The only person who stood up to the trio was Satish Sharma, the sitting MP of Amethi. There was great pressure on Sonia to contest from Amethi so that Sharma could be sidelined. After Sonia declined, there was a move to deny the ticket to Sharma, but he beat them at their own game. Sharma not only got Amethi but also bagged neighbouring Sultanpur for his loyalist B.N. Singh. Apparently, Sonia sent word that Sharma should not be troubled.Another close Sonia associate, Shiela Dixit, was nominated for the prestigious East Delhi seat. Even H.K.L. Bhagat - who was denied the seat because of his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 - may lend his support to her, having come back to the party at Fotedar's behest. After her Chandigarh speech, in which she expressed anguish over the killing of Sikhs in 1984, the Congress leadership didn't think twice before denying tickets to former Rajiv associates like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and Bhagat, all of whom had set their eyes on various constituencies in the capital.Similarly, K. Natwar Singh (Bharatpur), Shiv Prasad Mishra (Machhalishah), P. Shiv Shankar (Tenali), Chinta Mohan (Tirupathi) and C.K. Jaffer Sharief (Bangalore North) got into the candidates' list largely due to their proximity to 10 Janpath. In fact, Mohan was accommodated on Fotedar's insistence after the ticket had been allotted to sitting MP N. Subramaniam, a Rao loyalist. Veerappa Moily was summarily told to shift to Chikmagalur and vacate the Mangalore seat for Janardhana Poojary. And in Patiala, where Kesri loyalist Surendra Singla missed the bus, Captain Amrinder Singh got the nod.However, despite dismissing Kesri to the sidelines, Sonia ensures that the post of the Congress president gets the respect it deserves. For instance, when Kesri climbed into her aircraft at Palam airport on January 21 to explain to her the circumstances under which he could not reach Ranchi, she commented that he should not have come to the airport in the chilly weather.But this is little consolation for the Congress president. Rohtak is perhaps the only meeting that Kesri has addressed in Sonia's company. The party's campaign committee headed by Azad has not even chalked out a campaign programme for Kesri so far. Party functionaries simply say, "We are planning it in consultation with the office of the Congress president." The circumstances of Sonia's assured entry into politics suggest that her initial reluctance was a well-thought out charade. Congressmen, suddenly brimming with optimism, believe that like Indira and Rajiv, she would give the party a definite identity. Her future plans, however, would depend on how many seats the Congress wins, say Congressmen. If the tally remains between 140-160 seats, she will move cautiously. Sonia's camp is optimistic. As Fotedar says, "You may not feel the undercurrent but we are already 220 plus. Now, we are fighting for a clear majority." Sonia and her followers clearly envisage better days ahead.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 9, 1998--- ENDS ---
