April 13, 1998

The Congress president's search for allies seems to indicate her willingness to take on the Government.

By Sumit Mitra

The Siri Fort auditorium is one of the many landmarks that sprang up in Delhi during the 1982 Asiad, by supervising which Rajiv Gandhi cut his teeth as a can-do leader. Sixteen years later, his widow, Sonia, will appear before the 1,200-odd All India Congress Committee (AICC) delegates at the auditorium on April 6 to seek their endorsement of her appointment as the party president. The "ratification" is a mere formality. The Congress, with its reputation crumbled as the party of power, is now united in its belief that the Gandhi family's charisma alone can lead it back to glory. But, to the partymen, there is an added attraction in Sonia's leadership.

It lies in the subtle hint she has dropped in her address to the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) members that, while offering "constructive cooperation" to the BJP-led Government, she would not pass up a single opportunity to confront the ruling coalition on the floor of the 12th Lok Sabha. Her combative tone was evident when she accused the BJP of "duplicity" and said that the manner in which the Speaker was elected "has been for us a valuable lesson in the kind of politics we can expect" from the Government. As if that weren't enough, the Congress members of the Lok Sabha brought the roof down during discussion on the motion of thanks on the President's address, harping on the BJP's "hidden agenda" and staging noisy walkouts. Sonia, who is the CPP chairperson, spent more than two hours in her Parliament office on the final day of the discussion, talking to her MPs, perhaps orientating them for her version of constructive cooperation.

The impression that she wouldn't mind a showdown with the Government has gained further ground by her readiness to gradually win back the United Front (UF) partners. She invited G.K. Moopanar with open arms at the first indication that the Tamil Maanila Congress leader was longing to return to the Congress. Last week, two anti-BJP stalwarts, former prime minister Chandra Shekhar and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, had long and "meaningful" discussions with her. These front-building efforts, together with the aggressive mood in the party, are fuelling new hope that the Congress, under Sonia's leadership, will be able to topple the BJP-led Government in a none-too-distant future. Voicing his party's optimism, Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar says that "there will be at least 20 occasions during the budget session when the ruling group will have to walk on the razor's edge; we shall remain alert".

Before her party joins the battle, Sonia is working overtime to gear it up. Her daily darshan at 10 Janpath is now followed up by a businesslike meeting of the newly set up Public Grievances Cell, of which Margaret Alva is the convener. There is even a committee "to study the National Agenda of the BJP", a surprising omission from the committee being Pawar, who gave the toughest challenge to the BJP in his home state of Maharashtra. However, at the top of the five-man committee is Arjun Singh, despite being felled by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress performed none-too-badly. Besides, there is a series of state-specific committees set up "to suggest ways to improve the position of the party" in the respective states. Interestingly, none of its members is from any of the concerned states. The committee on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the two states where the party expects mid-term assembly polls this year, is led by Maharashtra Congressman Sushil Kumar Shinde.

After legitimisation of her appointment by the AICC, Sonia may give the party a still newer look by bringing some new faces into the Congress Working Committee (CWC), though the party constitution allows her to axe only its nominated members, now six in number. Nor does the rule book allow her to tinker with the Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC), with their presidents and executives elected from below. However, as a party insider says, "Madam is on a strong wicket now; the elected members will resign at her asking." Three PCC presidents -- of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- have already resigned. A group of young MPs has even started a campaign for resignation of all PCC presidents.

However, beyond such likely shift of personnel and the formation of a few committees, there is hardly any evidence that the party is prepared for an introspection. The draft AICC resolution, most parts of which are likely to be adopted at the session-eve CWC meeting, is eloquent about BJP's shortcomings but economical on the underlying reasons of the Congress' downfall. Maybe Sonia's own address will compensate, to an extent, for the lack of soul-searching by stressing the need to re-invent the Congress to suit contemporary times, and to return to its moorings. Just as Sonia's party-management team is at work, comprising old guards like Arjun Singh and M.L. Fotedar and a relatively younger Shiela Dixit, she has set up a "thought squad" too. The inputs for her strategic speeches, including the presidential address, flowed in from a broad swathe of technocrats, former civil servants and academics who were close to her slain husband. However, the suggestions are believed to be screened and structured into the speech form by two "experts" whose opinions she values -- former finance minister Manmohan Singh and family friend Suman Dubey. The services of H.Y. Sharada Prasad, former media adviser to both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, too have reportedly been enlisted to add to Sonia's public utterances a touch of continuity with the past.

While Sonia has sort of outsourced the "thinking" part of her presidentship, the average Congressman is more worried about the "action" part, that is whether she gains enough allies within the present Lok Sabha to pull down the Government. The likely return of Moopanar rings a sweet note on that count. Whether Sonia can close the numbers gap will depend on the confidence she can build not only within the walls of the Siri Fort Auditorium but among other parties, including those who have cast their lot with the BJP.

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