As PrimeMinister P.V. Narasimha Rao puts himself on the line in his re-election bid, hehas much to cheer about. Factionalism and endless rumours of impending revoltsnotwithstanding, what has been established beyond doubt in this poll conductedby Outlook-MODE is that he enjoys near complete support of the Lok Sabha membersbelonging to his party.
In all, 93Congress Lok Sabha members – 36 from the four southern states, 20 from thewest, 25 from the east and 12 from the north – were interviewed. The smallsample size in the north reflected the Congress’ poor performance in theregion in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Even thoughthere has been a lot of talk about Rao not having the requisite charisma andmass appeal, 76 per cent of those interviewed clearly favoured him as the bestbet to lead them into the next Lok Sabha elections. The only other leader whoattined double digit support – 13 per cent – among the MPs is Maharashtrastrongman, Sharad Pawar. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents were confidentthat he would lead the party to power.
But what comesas something of a revelation is the fact that only one of the 93 interviewedfelt that Sonia Gandhi would have been best person to lead the fourthcomingcampaign.
This is not tosuggest that Congressmen have totally given up on Sonia. Some of thoseinterviewed privately said that her entry into politics would immensely benefitthe party, but did not name her as their chosen leader because her plunge intopolitics remain a remote possibility.
What must alsogladden Rao’s heart is the fact that Arjun Singh, who raised the banner ofrevolt against him, found no takers among those interviewed while the presidentof the breakaway faction. ND Tiwari, could muster only 2 per cent support. It isalso interesting that the bulk of those interviewed did not seem to give muchweightage to the Congress’ constitutional principle of one-man-one post, whichhad been one of Arjun Singh’s rallying points.
But thissupport within the Congress can take Rao only so far. While it will undoubtedlygive him a chance to seek one more term in office, it is the people whoseverdict will decide his fate. And as has been well-established by now, theIndian voter can be most unpredictable.
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