AT the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meet, Narasimha Rao claimed the prerogative to select speakers and asked Manmohan Singh to lead the discussions, hoping that he would go easy on the issue of corruption. But the onetime loyalist turned the tables on him, saying that the Congress party leader should be above suspicion.
By adopting such a stand, he sent a clear signal—that Manhmohan Singh and corruption do not go together. In 1993, when the Joint Parliamentary Committee indicted the Finance Ministry for failing to check the security scam, Singh quit but withdrew his resignation, bowing to Rao's wishes. This time, he reacted differently.
In a way, Singh deflated Rao's game-plan—to expose leaders like Sharad Pawar and K. Karunakaran who have also not come clean on the corruption issue. If Singh had sided with Rao and attacked them, it would have made all the difference to Rao and his loyalists.
"Manmohanji has done the greatest service to the Congress. He has upheld the cause that we have taken up," said Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan PCC chief, and a signatory to the call for a CPP meet. An informal gathering of party members at Gehlot's Thyagaraja Marg residence after the CPP meet acknowledged Singh's contribution to the anti-corruption drive in the party.
Das Munshi, another rebel, also tried to cut Pranab Mukherjee, a senior West Bengal leader and Rao-loyalist, to size, by demanding that someone like Singh or A.K. Antony should play an important role in the party. In Congress politics, Singh and Mukherjee do not see eye to eye—the erstwhile finance minister's gradual distancing from Rao is being attributed to Mukherjee's growing proximity to the Congress president. Mukherjee could be a possible successor of Rao if he quits as president. And the young MPs, who want to refurbish the party's image, have indirectly fielded Singh, a reluctant politician five years ago, to checkmate Rao loyalists.
Singh will not move the party's economic resolution at the October AICC session, but he will obviously be the principal spokesman, demanding probity in public life. Also, Singh may not have gained personally by reiterating his commitment against corruption, but Rao has certainly lost the most credible supporter in the Congress.
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