The Kesri Manoeuvre

At 5 pm on November 23, party spokesman V.N. Gadgil and Kesri’s political secretary Tariq Anwar, announced that three general secretaries, Janardhan Poojary, Devendra Dwivedi and Maurya—all Narasimha Rao loyalists—had been removed from the posts. Dwivedi, besides being a Rao aide, had also been assisting the former prime minister in the legal battles he is embroiled in. The dismissal only intensified the Rao-Kesri tussle, with Rao determined to hang on to the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leadership.

In a parallel development, Kesri readmitted K. Ramamurthy, S.C. Mathur and K. Natwar Singh who had crossed over to the Congress(T) in May 1995, giving Rao yet another shock. And unlike Rao, who functioned in isolation, Kesri involved respective state leaders—Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Mani Shankar Aiyar (Tamil Nadu) in welcoming Congress(T) leaders to the party fold.

Kesri’s latest anti-Rao offensive followed the ouster of Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who was replaced by Lok Sabha member S.K. Gaekwad. He also appointed two new All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretaries—Meira Kumar and Oscar Fernandes, the latter considered a Sonia loyalist. To marginalise Rao, even Sonia has come out in the open and does not mind sharing the dais with Kesri and Arjun Singh. "She is for unity. And she does not need to actively take part in party activities," says a prominent party leader close to 10, Janpath. And for her, Rao’s exit from the post will pave the way for larger unity and restore her "unofficial position" in the party.

With the removal of three general secretaries who now cease to be Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, Kesri has acquired a majority within the organisation as he prepares for the decisive battle ahead. The changes in the CWC, removal of general secretaries and the Youth Congress chief might have been a small price to pay for Rao if it had ensured his survival as CPP leader. But the scenario is quite different. Kesri has gone from strength to strength and is now moving in for the kill—get rid of Rao’s people before the final assault. To do things his way, Kesri is even using the services of Rao’s friend. He urged Pranab Mukherjee, perhaps Rao’s closest aide, to give a dressing down to H.S. Brar a couple of weeks before he was finally replaced by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as the Punjab chief minister. "I am not doing all this to humiliate Rao. I have done it in the best interests of the party," insists Kesri. But the Rao camp is not convinced of his tactical innocence. In Kesri’s brief two-month tenure, Rao has been snubbed often enough not to get the message.

It began with the induction of Manmohan Singh in the CWC after he refused to defend Rao in his corruption cases. It was followed up by the reinduction of Madhavrao Scindia in the party on November 5. On November 4, Kesri overruled Rao in the CWC meeting when he favoured unconditional support to the United Front (UF) Government.

The worst was yet to come. Rao handed out an A-plus certificate to the Deve Gowda Government, predicting it would last out its five-year term. He was sending a veiled political message—that whatever Kesri or the CWC might say, it was up to the CPP leader to decide the nature and duration of the Congress MPs’ support to the Government. Rao’s clarification soon after did little to bridge the growing rift. Suresh Kalmadi, an over enthusiastic Rao supporter, went to the extent of announcing that it was Rao, and not Kesri, who would preside over the CPP meeting on November 20. Chairing the CPP meet was Rao’s prerogative and should have brooked no controversy. At the CPP meet, boycotted by Kesri, Rao had to eat humble pie as he welcomed the unity move and the CWC decision for periodic review of support to the UF.

Having consolidated his position in the CWC—his only rivals are Rao and his supporter Omem Deori, and Rajesh Pilot, a critic of both—it was only logical that Kesri would now turn to the CPP. He is meeting party MPs in batches, ostensibly to collect suggestions on strengthening the party. Many members, including Sharad Pawar followers, said Rao’s exit as CPP leader was imperative to rejuvenate the party. Kesri promptly announced CPP office-bearers’ election on December 10—this does not include the CPP leader’s post. Rao has been avoiding CPP elections for the past six months. On November 23, the three sacked general secretaries, MPs Jagannath Mishra, Matang Singh, Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi and Kalmadi rushed to 9, Moti Lal Nehru Marg to seek Rao’s "guidance" in the light of Kesri’s "conspiratorial moves".

BUT a relaxed Kesri camp was unmoved—in its assessment, Rao hardly had 30 to 40 members with him and would lose if he fielded his panel for the CPP post. Aware of this, Rao’s priority at the moment—since he has got a temporary reprieve from the court—is to retain the CPP post. "There is no Kesri or Rao panel. We have only the Congress panel," Rao told the CPP. However, Kesri seems determined to put up some Rao-baiters, including Scindia, for CPP posts to create more problems for him. Kesri has also made it a point not to anger any MP lest that affects his support level in the CPP—none of the ousted general secretaries is an MP.

"What Kesri has done is going to bring about a vertical split in the party," blustered Maurya. But his statement found little support. "I have to make a fine balance of social composition. I will soon define our priorities to revamp the party," says Kesri.

Kesri’s actions so far have sent some clear signals—woo the minorities and isolate Rao. After his takeover, the three general secretaries he appointed represent minorities—Ghulam Nabi Azad (Muslim), Oscar Fernandes (Christian) and Meira Kumar (Dalit). For the lone Rajya Sabha seat in its share in Uttar Pradesh, Kesri even convinced the upper caste-dominated Congress Legislature Party to support Akhilesh Das, who hails from a backward community.

He is systematically reorganising the Congress’ traditional support base—Dalits, minorities and the backwards. To drive home the point, Kesri has to first marginalise Rao, who is still hated by these sections for having given weightage to the upper castes, mainly Brahmins, in ministerial and organisational posts. Kesri’s image as a proponent of social justice has also unnerved former prime minister V.P. Singh and Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan who feel their Dalit agenda has been hijacked. The Dalit rally at the Red Fort on November 21, where Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda shared the dais with V.P. Singh and Paswan, was an attempt to check a probable Dalit exodus to the Kesri fold.

The growing proximity of Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to Kesri and their absence at the rally indicates that the Congress president is thinking in terms of post-Rao political alliances. Kesri has won the preliminary round. The losers, no doubt, are Rao and Gowda, strictly in that order.