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THE NATION:
CONGRESS
It's
a Proxy War Out There
One
fallout of the Najma-Alva feud is that it has split the 21 women MPs of
the Congress into two camps. A majority of the members are sore with Alva
over the fact that she concurrently holds four of the party's parliamentary
posts. "Choudhury, who like Alva is a former Union minister, is competent
but has been sidelined," rues an MP. Though of more recent vintage,
the Soni-Dikshit feud is no less bitter. This one is centred on the Delhi
chief minister's post. In 1998, Sonia offered Soni the chance to lead
the party in the assembly elections. When she declined, Dikshit got the
job. Congress dissidents in the capital now look to Soni for inspiration.
As for the
short-term spats, the women are usually waging a proxy war for men. For
instance, in the Congress Parliamentary Party elections in July, Alva
and Soni acted in concert with senior leader Arjun Singh. They schemed
to defeat Bano because of her close ties with Congress Working Committee
(CWC) member Jitendra Prasada. Bano, who was the lone woman in the fray,
has written to Sonia, complaining about Alva and Soni.
Spats like
the one between Chandresh and Soni are a matter of personal grievance.
At a recent Mahila Congress rally, Alva and Soni were not invited to speak;
while Chandresh says it was an oversight, the offended duo is not buying
it. Najma and Bano also hold grudges over their non-inclusion in the CWC;
as a Lok Sabha member, Bano feels, she is more eligible for a CWC berth
than AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai.
Though their
squabbles are the stuff of sexist jokes among Congressmen, the women leaders
refuse to even acknowledge the feuds. Both Najma and Alva reject suggestions
about their vice-presidency aspirations. "Where's the race? There
is no vacancy now. Everyone is fishing in troubled waters," says
Alva. Similarly, Soni denies any interest in the chief minister's post
and describes Punjab as her political base. She also rubbishes all talk
of rivalry among women leaders. "Gender quota in the party has created
space for women. There's enough space for all of us," she says.
However,
more space in the party may not be a recipe for fostering sorority among
the Congress women. As Mahila Congress Vice-President Mabel Rebello admits,
"Only 2 to 3 per cent of our cadre get party tickets." The mainline
factional male leaders corner the bulk of the quota. Which means that
it might actually help the women in the party to remain bitterly divided
like the men.
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The
Government should encash at least a part of its stake in LIC and GIC before
its too late, suggests INDIA TODAY associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar
in 
