August 17, 1998

The Congress sees power on the horizon and changes its stance on  the Jain report to woo potential allies.

By Javed M Ansari

Like a bad penny the Jain Commission keeps reappearing on the political scene. Last October, the disclosure of its interim report created major political convulsions and was used to pull down the I.K. Gujral-led United Front (UF) government. Ironically, the Action Taken Report (ATR) placed before Parliament on July 31 is now being used to forge new alliances by the same parties that were at each others throats then.

In the 11 month period between the publication of the interim report and the presentation of the ATR in Parliament by the Centre last week, little has changed as far as the Jain Commission's conclusions are concerned. What has changed, however, is the Congress party's stance. In October last, the Congress virtually held a gun to Gujral's head, demanding the removal of the three DMK ministers from the Union Cabinet. And though the needle of suspicion continues to point towards Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, the Congress is no longer demanding that he be sacked. As a senior Congressman put it, "Last time, we reacted emotionally. Now it is purely political." In dismissing the ATR, prepared and presented by the BJP-led Government, as "politically motivated", the Congress has thrown enough hints that its eyes are now set on the future. On August 4, party President Sonia Gandhi told her MPs that the Congress must be prepared to shoulder the burden of government "because at any moment we may be called upon to assume responsibility". But for that to happen, a few glitches have to be ironed out. Given the arithmetic in the Lok Sabha, it would need the support of all the major opposition parties, including those whose government it pulled down on the same issue last year. While some like Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav offered support even before being asked, the numbers will add up only if the UF, specially the left parties, put their shoulder to the wheel.

The Congress sees the ATR as an attempt by the BJP to divide the Opposition. In targeting Subramanian Swamy, the BJP was aiming to not only drive a wedge between him and the Congress but also isolate him from Jayalalitha. So goes the Congress reasoning. Swamy, who is still sore that Atal Bihari Vajpayee denied him the finance portfolio, has in the past few weeks emerged as the kingpin of the opposition moves against the Government. He is said to have even helped establish direct contact between Sonia and Jayalalitha. "The Government's attempts to isolate me in the AIADMK front and create a situation where the Congress would keep me at a distance has fallen flat," says Swamy. Congress leader P. Shiv Shankar, however, sees it differently: "We are not interested in politics or individuals. All we are interested in is the truth."

After the presentation of the ATR, the BJP thought it had reasons to pat itself on the back. But the Congress had other ideas. Two days after it was tabled, Sonia summoned a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and set up a team of the party's legal and political brains trust -- Arjun Singh, Shiv Shankar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kapil Sibal, R.N. Mittal and Ajit Jogi -- to formulate the Congress' strategy. Significantly, Sharad Pawar was once again kept out of this core group. But that's another story.

When the CWC met again to discuss the strategy worked out by the special team, Sonia characteristically let the others do the talking. And mostly, they talked in different tones. The members were divided on the extent to which the DMK should be attacked; when Arjun Singh and Shiv Shankar demanded a probe into P.V. Narasimha Rao's attempts to wind up the Jain Commission, it was left to Pawar, R.K. Dhawan, Rajesh Pilot and Ghulam Nabi Azad to caution the party, pointing out that the BJP was bound to exploit such inner party differences to embarrass the Congress. After all, quite a few of the present leaders were members of the Rao cabinet which had taken up the issue of asking Jain to close shop.

In Parliament too, politics took precedence over the commission's findings. Speakers from the Congress mostly refrained from directly attacking the DMK or demanding Karunanidhi's dismissal, aware that any such attack would be frowned upon by the UF. An exception perhaps was Jogi, an old Gandhi family loyalist, who was duly surprised to receive a bouquet from Jayalalitha the next morning.

The Congress was also taken aback at the Government's recommendation to constitute a Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency. For two days, high-level Congress delegations shuttled back and forth between the home minister's office and 10 Janpath. When Congress leaders appeared to get worked up over the issue, L.K. Advani is reported to have told them, "This is a fight between you people (Congress and UF). We have nothing to lose." However, suitably pacified by Advani's willingness to accommodate its concerns on the issue, the Congress is now looking to the future. Clearly, it is politics and the possibility of "shouldering responsibility" that is top on the party's priority list.

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