Congressmen know they cannot afford to disown Rao because of the outstanding achievements of the government headed by him. That perhaps explains why even Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who stands to gain most from Rao's misery, thought it prudent to display sympathy by calling on the former prime minister at his 9 Motilal Nehru Marg residence. Even longtime Rao baiters like former Kerala governor P. Shiv Shankar, who had found himself in the 1996 hawala scam dragnet, took a charitable view of his rival. He viewed Rao's conviction as ominous for democratic institutions in the country. "I respect the court yet I feel sad. After all, he put the economy back on the rails."

Rao's travails have come as a breather for Sonia

In politico legal circles, many hold the view that Rao's conviction was avoidable. For it hinged on his own corroboration of the accused-turned-approver Shailendra Mahato's claim that he had met Rao in the company of Buta Singh. Lawyer-politicians in the Congress hold Rao's legal aides responsible for the mess he is in. "What was the need for him to become a dharmaputra and tell the truth? He could have denied meeting Mahato just as he had denied meeting securities scam accused Harshad Mehta," says a senior Congress leader. On the other hand CPP Secretary Kapil Sibal feels there were insufficient grounds for Rao's conviction. "I don't think Rao deserved it. This is not a kind of evidence (Mahato's statement and Rao's corroboration) on which anybody should be convicted," he says.

The special court verdict has clearly added an unexpected twist to the internecine politics of the Congress. Until the afternoon of September 29, Rao was gearing up for a political comeback. He was confident of an exoneration considering the judge's disposition towards him in two other cases-the St Kitts forgery case and the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case. While Bharihoke had discharged Rao in the St Kitts case, in the Pathak case evidence against the former prime minister had not been forthcoming. So confident were his close associates that they had even planned a news conference the same evening to formally announce Rao's renewed innings in public life.

But with his conviction, the 79-year-old former prime minister seems to have reached the end of the road politically. Even if he were to be honourably exonerated by higher courts in the next couple of months, time would not be on his side. The Rao camp was looking for a clean chit in the JMM case since the Congress is in the midst of organisational elections. Post-exoneration, Rao was keen to play a larger role in party affairs-not in any official capacity but as a behind-the-scenes rallying point for those striving to bring about a change in the party leadership. Clearly, that opportunity now seems lost.

Though Sonia has commiserated with the beleaguered former prime minister, in reality she has enough reasons to be happy. The legal developments are expected to demoralise dissidents. The Sonia camp cannot believe its luck because dissidence is being snuffed out without any effort. First, Rajesh Pilot, who was about to openly challenge Sonia's leadership, died in a car crash. And now Rao has lost his halo.
But dissidents in the Congress are still determined to challenge the Congress president in the ongoing organisational elections. They are not ready to link Rao's predicament with their own efforts to change the party leadership. As a dissident MP puts it, "Where is the question of compromise? Sonia visited Rao's house, not Jitendra Prasada's residence. Besides, Rao had nothing to do with our activities." While it may be curtains for the most astute and much vilified politician of our times, it may not imply that Sonia would effortlessly get re-elected as Congress president.

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