Rahul Gandhi under scanner
9 Nov 2012 12:05 AM GMT
IT’S OFFICIAL: RAHUL NOW IN CONGRESS TOP THREE
The much-awaited coronation of Rahul Gandhi has been finally done. The Congress rally on 4 November was meant to launch Rahul Gandhi formally. For the first time ever since Rahul entered politics, he was seen accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the podium. There were only three chairs in the front declaring Rahul’s entry into the Congress top brass. It’s a different matter that his role is yet to be given a name. Apart from the top three Rahul, Sonia and the PM, there were just three other chairs kept behind theirs that seated Ahmad Patel, Motilal Vora and Janaradhan Diwedi. The other general secretaries, members of working committee, cabinet ministers and even Congress chief ministers like Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana, who brought the maximum crowds for the rally, sat on the next dais, demonstrating the power and hierarchy structure of the Congress. The Delhi CM Sheila Dixit, along with the DPCC chief J P Agarwal and Choudhury Birender Singh, general secretary in-charge of Delhi, were also there, but only because Delhi hosted the rally.
AMIDST DYNASTY SCIONS, TIWARI’S IS the LONE VOICE OF the AAM ADMI
Resentment is brewing within the Congress party in the aftermath of the recently conducted cabinet reshuffle. Rahul Gandhi is under the scanner for upholding dynastic politics. Going against his much-publicised slogan of giving chance to the common youth without any political influence, those who have been promoted are members of his charmed party circle, who sit with him in five stars and are sons of famous fathers with political linkages. May it be Jyotiraditya Scindia or Sachin Pilot or Kunwar Jitender Singh or Milind Deora – they are all members of rich power wielding political families. Not one member who came from modest backgrounds, except Manish Tiwari, has been elevated, though he too got his first break in the NSUI because his father was shot down by the Khalistani terrorists. There was no looking back for him as he climbed the ladder through hard work. Tiwari alone has earned his job because of his performance as the voice of the party, sometimes defending the indefensible. He was the joint candidate of Sonia Gandhi and the PM, who needed him in the absence of a credible voice for the government. As all the PM’s media advisers have been proved to be nincompoops in the UPA-2, not to speak of the latest, Pankaj Pachauri.
SPOTLIGHT ON HARI PRASAD FOR PROMOTING FACTIONALISM
The AICC general secretary Hari Prasad is under the scanner for promoting factionalism in the states that he is in charge of. The recent incident of a spat between him and Ajit Jogi in Chattisgarh was a blatant display of factional politics, with Hari Prasad siding with Jogi’s rival lobby in the state Congress. Jogi is planning to lodge a complaint with the Congress president. Jogi’s grouse is that Prasad was playing for the PCC President Nand Kumar Patel. Patel, though an OBC, has little hold on the Patel community. Likewise, in Haryana, he is on the side of the CM. The complaint against him is that he is always on the side of powers that are promoting factionalism.
MULAYAM ROPES IN N D TIWARI TO SP CAMP
Mulayam Singh Yadav is leaving no stone unturned to consolidate his vote bank. After consolidating his Yadav and Muslim votes, he is now working to win over the Brahmin votes. Congress’ loss is now Mulayam Singh Yadav’s gain. Mulayam Singh is now using the four times CM of united Uttar Pradesh, Narain Dutt Tiwari, who has been pushed into oblivion by the Congress, to his advantage and as his asset. Mulayam recently paid a surprise visit to the erstwhile UP and Uttarakhand CM in Dehradun and urged him to shift his home to Lucknow. He has promised to give him all facilities meant for ex UP CM. As ex UP CM, he has a house in Lucknow. Tiwari has promised to consider his proposal and to canvass for SP in 2014.
YADAVS DOLE OUT FREEBIES; MAYA BANKS ON SECULARISM
Even before the government has given any indication of early election, political leaders in Uttar Pradesh have begun the preparations. Mulayam Singh and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav are busy distributing freebies like cheques as unemployment allowance at the district and the block level. He has also started a scheme of giving a ‘one time financial assistance’ of Rs 30 thousand to girls who pass higher secondary class twelve examinations. The CM is also promising tablets and computers to schoolchildren in each district he visits along with his computer-phobic father Mulayam Singh.
All this is being done to consolidate his voters. Mayawati, on the other hand, is busy preparing very quietly. She has already finalised candidates in about 40 seats. The party organisation is being activated at al levels. Booth level committees have been constituted. Zonal coordinators are holding meetings both with the district and state presidents. This time Mayawati is concentrating more on her base vote of the Dalits rather than of the upper castes. Banking on the Samajwadi Party government’s failure in containing communal riots in the state, she pleas to woo the Muslims on grounds that when she was in power there were no such communal riots in the state. This is likely to be one of her issues in the elections whenever they are held. She is already preparing on these lines.
AMBIKA SONI LOBBYING FOR KEY PARTY POST
With the AICC reshuffle on the anvil, intense power struggle has broken out in the Congress party. Ambika Soni, after she resigned from the Union cabinet, is hectically lobbying for the post of political secretary to the Congress President. She has been heard telling Congress leaders who met her recently that she has told Sonia Gandhi that she does not want to become general secretary because she’s held the post for quite long. But Gandhi has not given her any answer. But Soni’s supporters claim that once Rahul Gandhi takes charge, the present setup will be in the sidelines and Madam will once again be all mighty, whereas the media chairperson Janardhan Diwedi expressed ignorance at any such development related to Soni. One ex MLA and a strong supporter of Soni was seen pointing at Janardhan Diwedi’s room in 24 Akbar Road.
‘This will be Madam Soni’s room,’ he was overheard saying. ‘This room has been lucky for she wants to sit in this room.’ Questions are abuzz in Congress headquarters about what the AICC reshuffle has in store for the aam congressman. Who will be the new power centre, Ahmad Patel or Ambika Soni or Digvijay Singh? Ambiguity continues to grip the party on the role of Rahul. Without going into specifics, Diwedi is on record saying Rahul is already number two in the party from the Block level to the broadest level, leaving the media to interpret whatever they want.
The much-awaited coronation of Rahul Gandhi has been finally done. The Congress rally on 4 November was meant to launch Rahul Gandhi formally. For the first time ever since Rahul entered politics, he was seen accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the podium. There were only three chairs in the front declaring Rahul’s entry into the Congress top brass. It’s a different matter that his role is yet to be given a name. Apart from the top three Rahul, Sonia and the PM, there were just three other chairs kept behind theirs that seated Ahmad Patel, Motilal Vora and Janaradhan Diwedi. The other general secretaries, members of working committee, cabinet ministers and even Congress chief ministers like Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana, who brought the maximum crowds for the rally, sat on the next dais, demonstrating the power and hierarchy structure of the Congress. The Delhi CM Sheila Dixit, along with the DPCC chief J P Agarwal and Choudhury Birender Singh, general secretary in-charge of Delhi, were also there, but only because Delhi hosted the rally.
AMIDST DYNASTY SCIONS, TIWARI’S IS the LONE VOICE OF the AAM ADMI
Resentment is brewing within the Congress party in the aftermath of the recently conducted cabinet reshuffle. Rahul Gandhi is under the scanner for upholding dynastic politics. Going against his much-publicised slogan of giving chance to the common youth without any political influence, those who have been promoted are members of his charmed party circle, who sit with him in five stars and are sons of famous fathers with political linkages. May it be Jyotiraditya Scindia or Sachin Pilot or Kunwar Jitender Singh or Milind Deora – they are all members of rich power wielding political families. Not one member who came from modest backgrounds, except Manish Tiwari, has been elevated, though he too got his first break in the NSUI because his father was shot down by the Khalistani terrorists. There was no looking back for him as he climbed the ladder through hard work. Tiwari alone has earned his job because of his performance as the voice of the party, sometimes defending the indefensible. He was the joint candidate of Sonia Gandhi and the PM, who needed him in the absence of a credible voice for the government. As all the PM’s media advisers have been proved to be nincompoops in the UPA-2, not to speak of the latest, Pankaj Pachauri.
SPOTLIGHT ON HARI PRASAD FOR PROMOTING FACTIONALISM
The AICC general secretary Hari Prasad is under the scanner for promoting factionalism in the states that he is in charge of. The recent incident of a spat between him and Ajit Jogi in Chattisgarh was a blatant display of factional politics, with Hari Prasad siding with Jogi’s rival lobby in the state Congress. Jogi is planning to lodge a complaint with the Congress president. Jogi’s grouse is that Prasad was playing for the PCC President Nand Kumar Patel. Patel, though an OBC, has little hold on the Patel community. Likewise, in Haryana, he is on the side of the CM. The complaint against him is that he is always on the side of powers that are promoting factionalism.
MULAYAM ROPES IN N D TIWARI TO SP CAMP
Mulayam Singh Yadav is leaving no stone unturned to consolidate his vote bank. After consolidating his Yadav and Muslim votes, he is now working to win over the Brahmin votes. Congress’ loss is now Mulayam Singh Yadav’s gain. Mulayam Singh is now using the four times CM of united Uttar Pradesh, Narain Dutt Tiwari, who has been pushed into oblivion by the Congress, to his advantage and as his asset. Mulayam recently paid a surprise visit to the erstwhile UP and Uttarakhand CM in Dehradun and urged him to shift his home to Lucknow. He has promised to give him all facilities meant for ex UP CM. As ex UP CM, he has a house in Lucknow. Tiwari has promised to consider his proposal and to canvass for SP in 2014.
YADAVS DOLE OUT FREEBIES; MAYA BANKS ON SECULARISM
Even before the government has given any indication of early election, political leaders in Uttar Pradesh have begun the preparations. Mulayam Singh and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav are busy distributing freebies like cheques as unemployment allowance at the district and the block level. He has also started a scheme of giving a ‘one time financial assistance’ of Rs 30 thousand to girls who pass higher secondary class twelve examinations. The CM is also promising tablets and computers to schoolchildren in each district he visits along with his computer-phobic father Mulayam Singh.
All this is being done to consolidate his voters. Mayawati, on the other hand, is busy preparing very quietly. She has already finalised candidates in about 40 seats. The party organisation is being activated at al levels. Booth level committees have been constituted. Zonal coordinators are holding meetings both with the district and state presidents. This time Mayawati is concentrating more on her base vote of the Dalits rather than of the upper castes. Banking on the Samajwadi Party government’s failure in containing communal riots in the state, she pleas to woo the Muslims on grounds that when she was in power there were no such communal riots in the state. This is likely to be one of her issues in the elections whenever they are held. She is already preparing on these lines.
AMBIKA SONI LOBBYING FOR KEY PARTY POST
With the AICC reshuffle on the anvil, intense power struggle has broken out in the Congress party. Ambika Soni, after she resigned from the Union cabinet, is hectically lobbying for the post of political secretary to the Congress President. She has been heard telling Congress leaders who met her recently that she has told Sonia Gandhi that she does not want to become general secretary because she’s held the post for quite long. But Gandhi has not given her any answer. But Soni’s supporters claim that once Rahul Gandhi takes charge, the present setup will be in the sidelines and Madam will once again be all mighty, whereas the media chairperson Janardhan Diwedi expressed ignorance at any such development related to Soni. One ex MLA and a strong supporter of Soni was seen pointing at Janardhan Diwedi’s room in 24 Akbar Road.
‘This will be Madam Soni’s room,’ he was overheard saying. ‘This room has been lucky for she wants to sit in this room.’ Questions are abuzz in Congress headquarters about what the AICC reshuffle has in store for the aam congressman. Who will be the new power centre, Ahmad Patel or Ambika Soni or Digvijay Singh? Ambiguity continues to grip the party on the role of Rahul. Without going into specifics, Diwedi is on record saying Rahul is already number two in the party from the Block level to the broadest level, leaving the media to interpret whatever they want.
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