Congress dissidents in disarray, mending fences

Sonia not to summon “Physical CWC” meeting

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

New Delhi, Oct 5

Irrespective of rhetoric by the G-23 dissidents against the leadership, the party high command is unruffled and moving ahead at its own pace. In fact, the way Captain Amarinder Singh was sent packing in Punjab, has made some of the dissidents mend fences.

Haryana's Congress stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda may be a signatory of the G-23 letter to Sonia Gandhi and at times airing his views. But his son and Rajya Sabha MP, Deepender Singh Hooda is standing with the Gandhis like a rock. He even got detained when he went along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) to protest against the atrocities on farmers.

Anand Sharma, deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha has been maintaining studied silence for weeks together and did not join issue with Kapil Sibal who fired a huge salvo against the leadership a couple of days ago. In fact, none of the other senior leaders joined ranks with him, be it; Prithviraj Chavan, Mukul Wasnik, Shashi Tharoor and others. Even Manish Tewari was very guarded.

Some of the signatories like Jitin Prasada have already joined the BJP.

Ghulam Nabi Azad may have demanded summoning of the Congress Working Committee meeting, but Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to oblige.

A senior Congress leader told Lokmat that Sonia Gandhi won't commit the cardinal mistake that late Sitaram Kesari did by calling a CWC meeting and faced his own removal. Though Kesari was unwilling to call a meeting of the CWC in 1998 but he was persuaded by seniors like Dr Manmohan Singh that everything would be normal. In a virtual meeting, the command and control is operated through a remote button and members can speak only when authorized. Therefore, there is no question of any “physical meeting”, said the source.

Fly on the Wall - Mumbai model for new Congress Chief!

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Mumbai model for new Congress Chief!
How the new Congress president may be democratically elected in place of Sonia Gandhi if polls do take place for the coveted post? As many as 1400 plus AICC delegates & others have to be elected first and then they will elect a new CWC and eventually a president in February 2021 unless polls are postponed. The AICC managers hit upon a novel method and tested it in Mumbai to elect Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief. It is now called the Mumbai Model. The General Secretary incharge of Maharashtra HK Patil sent a voice message to 450 designated party functionaries: I am AICC incharge HK Patil speaking. I seek your views on who should be the president of Mumbai Congress. After the beep, send just one name. Your answer will be kept confidential. Thank you”. No one knows who followed the drill and who didn’t. But the mandarins in the technical team of Rahul Gandhi working behind the scenes, took enough care that the process is executed with finesse. It’s a different matter that no one among 450 delegates knew till date who sent which name and how MRCC president was chosen. But one thing is clear that this Mumbai Model will may be executed in AICC polls too. Since Rahul Gandhi’s loyalists are determined to install him as party chief. The AICC media head, Randeep Surjewala has already said that 99.9% want Rahul as CP. He already knows the mind of 99.9% of the 1400 AICC delegates. The last word has yet to be written.

Rahul & his new mobile
When the 5-hour long meeting took place at Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 10 Janpath, Rahul & Priyanka were in tow to receive the invitees. The Gandhis wanted a virtual meeting over Zoom. But none of the dissidents including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda were ready for it. They insisted on a face-to-face meeting which Sonia Gandhi eventually agreed to. But many leaders were dismayed that Rahul Gandhi was glued to his new iPhone 12. A leader who was part of the meeting said Rahul remained busy with his mobile for nearly three hours. In between, he left the meeting twice to interact with Kamal Nath and A K Antony and attend to urgent calls. Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, remained seated for full 5-hours without a break.

Hooda stuns the conclave

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is a soft spoken person and rarely talks tough. But he was perhaps the only one among the dissidents to stun the gathering. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan and many other letter writers were speaking in a rather conciliatory tone. When Hooda’s turn came, he didn’t mince his words. Rather, he sent the chill in the otherwise warm weather in the sprawling lawns. Hooda said he is fighting a lonely battle in Haryana against the BJP which had pumped Rs 100 crores to win the Baroda Assembly seat in a bitter byelection. Yet he was able to defeat the BJP against all odds. Hooda did not stop there and went on to say that had he been made the leader of the party in Haryana three months prior to State Assembly polls last year, the Congress would have got the state. “Unfortunately, I am not accepted as leader in Delhi while people in Haryana adore me,” said Hooda in a pained voice. There was a silence of the grave.

Nadda’s rising clout
With BJP president J P Nadda down with Covid and recovering, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has taken charge of Assembly polls in West Bengal due next year. Shah was out of action in Bihar for some strange reasons. But now he is leading the onslaught on Mamata Banerjee from the front. However, Nadda is working overtime sitting home and played a key role in the selection of seven Union Ministers who were made inchage of seven regions for Assembly polls. It is learnt that the selections were made as per the PM’s desires and many favourite ministers were excluded causing surprises. Obviously, Nadda's graph has been risen after Bihar win and other polls. Only recently, a couple of Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states wanted to call on the PM. But Modi politely conveyed to them to first apprise the party president about the issues.

Why Rahul Gandhi rubbed Sena and Many ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report

Why Rahul Gandhi rubbed Sena and Many ?

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Dec. 15

Rahul Gandhi may have baffled Congressmen including his mother & Congress Interim president Sonia Gandhi when he rubbed key party ally Shiv Sena on the wrong side by invoking Vir Savarkar.

But he was fully aware of what he was doing at the mammoth rally at the Ramlila Grounds on Saturday when he said “My name is not Rahul Savarkar. My Name is Rahul Gandhi and I will not apologise”.  Obviously, he was telling the saffron parties that Savarkar had apologized to the British. But he was not the one to do so.

Insiders say that Rahul Gandhi deliberately  invoked Savarkar’s name to rub the Shiv Sena on the wrong side. While the “Bharat Bachao Rally” was aimed at targeting the BJP and NDA, Rahul deviated from the script and provoked the Sena. Sources close to Rahul Gandhi told Lokmat that the scion of the Gandhi family was never in favour of the Congress-NCP-Sena alliance . Yet, due to political compulsions Sonia Gandhi gave the go-ahead to the alliance. But Rahul was never happy about it and he went public the moment he got an opportunity to pass the snide remark. It’s a different matter that Sonia Gandhi who spoke after him went according to the script and ignored his remarks.  It also transpires that immediately after the public rally, she got in touch with senior party leader Ahmad Patel to handle the situation. It was these behind-the-scenes activity that Sena’s Sanjay Raut’s tweet was guarded and the matter subsided.  But it clearly emerged that Rahul Gandhi’s remarks were well thought of and not a spur-of-the-moment statement.

Sources say that several of the Congress stalwarts including Chief Ministers were also unhappy that Instead of appreciating them, Rahul Gandhi chose to  congratulate  party general secretary Mukul Wasnik for mobilizing a massive crowd at the rally. He called out Wasnik and patted his back for the successful rally in front of thousands present. Rahul Gandhi did not name a single party leader for mobilizing such a mammoth crowd. The Chief Ministers - Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda worked for weeks to bring crowds from their respective states.

On the contrary, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi congratulated her workers from UP who had come in large numbers and they cheered repeatedly when she spoke.

Ends 

Fly on the ball : Big promotion for Fadnavis in offing

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Big promotion for Fadnavis in offing  

The search is quietly going on for a new member of BJP’s Parliamentary Board after M Venkiah Naidu was promoted as Vice President of India. The Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh - Vasudhara Raje Scindia and Raman Singh are eyeing the post due to their seniority. But both are not in the list of favourites of Modi. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal who is also party treasurer, is also a contender for the coveted seat to rub shoulders with the big guys in the Board. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s name is also being mentioned. But getting a seat at the party’s Parliamentary Board is no joke. Even Manohar Parrikar grumbled for not being promoted though he was Goa CM several times and brought to Delhi as Defence Minister. The buzz word in the party is that Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis may make it to the top slot. He is liked by the RSS, Modi and Amit Shah and rated high among the 13 CMs of the BJP. He is the only one to impress all by his non-controversial three years record in power.

  

"Mr Indispensable"  Ajit Doval 

All eyes are on S Jaishankar who is retiring as Foreign Secretary (FS) after three years in January next. There is a popular perception that its not Sushma Swaraj but Jaishankar who runs the show in the ministry. Jaishankar was made FS on the last day of his retirement in January 2015 after Modi fired serving FS Sujatha Singh unceremoniously. Jaishankar was given another extension for one year which will now end in January 2018. If the grapevine has it, senior IFS officer Vijay Gokhle will take over the reins as FS. The question is where will Jaishankar go after he demits office. Though he would love to be the National Security Adviser to the PM. But he knows that Ajit Doval is the real Mr Indispensable. Modi may get rid of anybody in the government but not Doval. It became clear recently when the search for Defence Minister began. Arun jaitley had suggested to the PM that Ajit Doval be appointed as Defence Minister. But the PM brushed aside the suggestion saying, “I cannot spare him.” It is not yet clear what role he will get after his retirement. May be,  NITI Aayog which doesn’t have a diplomat.

  

Modi writing 2019 War script

PM Modi may be finding new ways to have “Congress Mukt Bharat” and accusing the Gandhis for the mess. But he is following every page of the script that Indira Gandhi wrote in the 70s. She fought for the poor and so is Modi as he claims. She even named the TATAs and Birlas for amassing wealth at the cost of the poor. Modi says the same but with a caveat; “It is my resolve to pull money out of the pocket of the rich and distribute amongst the poor.” This sentence of his speech at the national executive  went unreported. He did not name who these rich people are.  But he is desperately trying to associate with the poor and the down-trodden. He wants to change the BJP’s image that it’s the party of traders and middle-class. His raid-raj against the corrupt is aimed at sending the same signal. His slogan for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is: Ye Imandari aur Beimani Ke beech ki Ladai Hai. Ye Garib aur Ameer Ki Ladai Hai. Ek Taraf Akela Modi Hai aur Doosri Taraf Saare Beimaan. Faisla Aapko Karna Hai…” The scrip is already written by Modi.  He has simply drawn a leaf out of Indira Gandhi’s war against the syndicate and the Opposition parties who were perceived to be identified with the rich in 1971. Indira Gandhi won 352 seats. And how many seats Modi wants for BJP in 2019? 350 to be precise.   

  

Gurumurthy finally declares war against Govt.

Finally, S Gurumurthy, RSS ideologue and Swadeshi Jagran Manch Chief has declared war against the Modi government. For the past couple of years it was blow hot and blow cold between him and the government. But Gurumurthy has come out in the open against the Modi government’s policies including post-demonetization actions, falling economic growthetc. While some say that his attack is directed against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, others say that it’s a signal of growing gulf between the RSS and Modi. It was the same Gurumurthy who raised the banner of revolt against the Vajpayee government’s policy of disinvestment of PSUs which enriched big industrial houses. Finally, the RSS distanced from Vajpayee. The same is happening under Modi, say Swadesh Jagran Manch leaders. The first public spat will be in October at Ramlil grounds. You wait !

Guinness Book & Hooda

Steel Minister Birender Singh was heard saying: Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s name should be written in the Guinness Book of World Record. Why ? asked a camp follower. Pat came the reply: He is the only leader in the country who came out with full two pages advertisements in all leading Hindi newspapers in North India on the occasion of his 71st birthday. Hooda never did it when he was CM, Haryana for ten years. Birender Singh says Hooda deserves a place in the Guinness Book for this unique political adventure. Birender Singh was having a dig at Hooda who showed his might while Birender Singh is Man of Steel.

Fly on the Wall : Mayawati as PM candidate ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Mayawati as PM candidate ?

Mayawati's frontal attack on the BJP alleging that it is hatching a conspiring to eliminate her is the first direct hint of her joining ranks with other Opposition parties during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BSP has mostly kept away from the 17-parties Opposition parties' conclaves. She was quiet for some time and some attributed this silence to Enforcement Directorate (ED) going after her brother Anand in the Rs 1200 crores money laundering case. With Mayawati blasting the Modi government is the first signal of Opposition unity taking a positive turn. It transpires that Rahul Gandhi is sending out signals that he is willing to do anything to dislodge Modi. Mayawati thinks she can play a role at the national level. Akhilesh Yadav is working out a barter deal with Mayawati quietly under which he will support her for the PM's post while she will back him for the CM's post. Lalu Yadav is also ready for Mayawati. The BSP has following amongst the Dalits outside UP in several North Indian states. One may hear more news on this front sooner than expected. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also been nursing the Prime Ministerial ambitions. With Mayawati throwing her hat in the ring, one will have to watch. 

Hooda may be in the dock, thanks to CBI

After M L Tayal, its the turn of another top official related to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to face the music. The CBI is now tightening its grip around Chhatar Singh who is now a member of the UPSC. He was chief administrator of HUDA and principal secretary to Hooda after Tayal retired and facing CBI cases for corruption. The case against Chhatar Singh is strong and may put Hooda in serious trouble. The Modi government helped Hooda by not charging him under the PMLA in the National Herald case. But the case against these top aides of Hooda is so strong that the CBI is unable to dilute them. It is learnt that Chhatar singh may even be asked to resign from the UPSC. Hooda had ensured that Chhatar Singh is appointed member UPSC during the UPA regime after retirement.

Rajnath not consulted on NIA's new chief

When Y C Modi was appointed was appointed as the new chief of the NIA, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was in the dark until the file landed on his desk from the PMO. Normally, the file to fill vacancies with regard to departments and police organisations directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs are sent to the Cabinet Secretary by the Home Minister. The NIA is directly under the MHA and its Chief Sharad Kumar was to retire on October 30. Normally, announcements with regard to such postings are done 15-20 days prior. But in this case, the PMO called up the Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and asked him to send the proposal which he did without losing time. Gauba was also asked to send the name for the successor of SSB Chief also. But before Gauba could recover, the file came back in no time clearing the name of Y C Modi. Rajnath Singh who is also a member of the Cabinet Committee for Appointment (ACC), was taken aback when the file was put up to him for information and subsequent action.

Scared BJP delinks Gurdaspur LS Bye-poll with others

The BJP has de-linked the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha byelection with that of Gorakhpur and Phulpur. Though Yogi Adityanath had quit the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat and Keshav Prasad Maurya had quit the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat on August 6 itself, the Election Commission didn't hold the LS polls in these constituencies. When asked, a senior Election Commission official said that byelections are to be held only on the recommendation of the state government. Since the Punjab Government recommended the holding of bypoll in Gurdaspur and six months mandatory period was also expiring, we are holding the same. But in the case of UP LS seat, there is time. It is, however, up to the state government to take a call when it would like to hold. The state government indicated that it will contemplate after the festival season. It is said that the BJP doesn't want to test its popularity in UP at this juncture and delaying bye-polls. There are two vacancies in Rajasthan (Alwar & Ajmer) and one in Telangana.

Kejriwal Went to Igatpuri, lessons to keep quiet

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal quietly went into silent mode even after winning the Bawana Assembly seat in a tough byelection. This was a surprise to all in the Capital. He did not react when BJP was routed in the Delhi University Students Union polls. It now transpires that he opted to go to Igatpuri in Nashik and stayed at the Vipaasana Centre for ten days. Though he had been going to Bengaluru for his throat treatment and practice silence, habits die hard. He is back on twitter after ten days and roar in Gujrat shortly.

Rahul Gandhi elevation deferred again

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Exclusive 

Rahul Gandhi elevation deferred again

No AICC session for now

New Delhi, June 14

The anointment of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president is understood to have been delayed again; so it seems. Though clamour for Rahul's elevation is growing in the party. But it has now been delayed again. 

Highly placed sources in the Congress say that the AICC session to elevate party’s vice president to the president’s post, will not be held at least for the next two months.

“The AICC session may now be held sometime in August end or September,” said a senior party functionary on the condition of anonymity.

These sources say that no useful purpose will be served by elevating Rahul Gandhi as he is already taking major decisions in the party. What Rahul Gandhi has lately realized that the team he trusted during the past two years did not deliver. Madhusudan Mistry who was even rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat failed to infuse confidence within the UP unit of the party. The bitter battle with the BJP and other parties is being fought in UP and Mistry was unable to coordinate with Prashant Kishore, Rahul’s strategist.

The return of Ghulam Nabi Azad as incharge of UP and Kamal Nath for Haryana and Punjab signals that Rahul had to fall back on Sonia Gandhi’s loyalists only.

Rahul has realized that the Haryana Congress unit is in disarray particularly after the huge set back in the Rajya Sabha polls. He also  knows that party will be crippled without Bhupinder Singh Hooda who was Chief Minister for ten years. Though it is clear that 13 MLAs allegedly close to Hooda used a different marker pen to cast their votes. But the situation has to be retrieved.

Since Kamal Nath has never been Rahul Gandhi favourite  and had been dumped by him during the past two years, his sudden rehabilitation signals that Sonia Gandhi is playing more active role.

Kamal Nath is senior to Hooda and rather had helped him when the latter needed him. Similarly, Kamal Nath will have to keep Capt Amrinder Singh under check. He becomes uncontrollable. Kamal Nath has been his Doon school buddy and original Rajiv Gandhi era friends. The high command is aware that Congress is capable of winning Punjab and doesn’t want to wither away the prospects.

These sources say more changes may be in store in the party and general secretary C P Joshi who handled Assam elections may be given another responsibility. It seems that the party wants to focus on ensuing Assembly polls in five states early next year rather than elevating one Gandhi with another.