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Maharashtra crisis threatens Sonia's hold over Congress

The soft-pedalling of the Maharashtra crisis by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi could well threaten her hold over the party and give senior leader Sharad Pawar some scope to challenge her authority.

Congress leaders, who had earlier voiced their pique at party candidate Ram Pradhan being defeated in the recent Rajya Sabha elections because of cross-voting allegedly masterminded by Pawar's followers, notably party MP Praful Patel, are now trying to conceal their embarrassment by jumping to Gandhi's defence for her stance in the matter.

Gandhi had issued a showcause notice to Patel, thereby indirectly attacking Pawar. However, Patel and his mentor Pawar met the party chief yesterday and flatly denied that they had anything to do with Pradhan's defeat.

Consequently, Congress leaders like Salman Khursheed went out of their way to give the impression that everything was hunky-dory and that one need not blow the matter out of proportion.

However, this was in sharp contrast to their earlier demand that the culprit in the Maharashtra affair should not be spared at any cost. There was a lot of talk about the Congress's disciplinary action committee cracking down on the likes of Patel.

But now that Gandhi appears to have treated the entire matter with kid gloves, she has made a mockery of the discipline-enforcing procedure in the Congress. Not only that, she has virtually cancelled the re-visit of the Congress team, which had earlier gone to Maharashtra to probe the matter but had to return because of the then impending meeting of the Congress Working Committee.

A former party general secretary, speaking on the condition of anonymity, pointed out that the leniency displayed by the party high command in the Maharashtra affair was certain to embolden partymen in other states who were gradually getting disillusioned with Gandhi's style of functioning. Two such states were Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, the former Congress general secretary contended.

The Congress leadership is now seeking to divert attention from the Pawar-Patel duo, the leading actors in the Maharashtra crisis, to party MLAs in the state. This is to project the impression that Gandhi will not tolerate any anti-party activities while the main accused are virtually being allowed to go scot-free, he added.

Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi, however, does not agree that Gandhi's hold over the party is in any way loosening. "Madame is the undisputed Congress leader and none can measure up to her status or challenge her." But the latter part of Jogi's statement reveals that all is not well in the top echelons of the Congress leadership.

EARLIER REPORTS:
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Sonia given names of suspect legislators

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