By Nora Chopra
The Congress President Sonia Gandhi will leave for a medical check up in mid-June to US. And before leaving she is expected to hand over charge to Rahul Gandhi. The Gandhi scion has already started the process of a reshuffle. He is meeting MPs for wider consultation. There is speculation that Rahul is under tremendous pressure from within the party to take over reins of the government from Manmohan Singh, but it would be decided by the family. Rahul is not keen to lead a government that has majority of the MPs and ministers in the age group of 66 plus. In fact, he wants a major clean up before he ultimately takes over. So, if party sources are to be believed, this would be possible only after 2014.
Kishore Chand Deo: Latest Presidential dark horse
The Union minister for Panchayati Raj, Kishore Chand Deo, is the latest to join the list of the dark horses in the run up in the race to Rashtrapati Bhawan. Chand Deo, like PA Sangma, is a tribal MP from Andhra Pradesh with an impeccable record, who, to top it all, also enjoys Sonia Gandhi’s trust. He had nearly become the Lok Sabha Speaker, if he had relented to the pressure from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the ‘cash for votes’ episode. He was the chairman of the committee looking into the cash for votes scam. The Prime Minister wanted him to give a clean chit to Amar Singh’s secretary, but he refused to oblige the PM. So, when his name came up for the post of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister rejected it outrightly and supported Meira Kumar. Notwithstanding this setback, Deo is the only UPA contender, besides Pranab Mukherjee, on whose name there can be some consensus both within and outside of the UPA, possibly even being Karunanidhi’s candidate for the post. He, who was educated in the then Madras, was Karunanidhi’s neighbour in Gopalapuram colony in today’s Chennai. His house was later bought over by Karunanidhi. He had played cricket with Stalin and Azhagiri. He is equally close to Sharad Pawar and was minister under Biju Patnaik in the Charan Singh government. He is also a classmate of Prakash Karat.
Singh unwilling to leave Prime Ministership before 2014
Manmohan Singh has made it clear to the Congress high command that he will not leave the Prime Ministership to become President. The thinking within the Congress is far catching ground that it is time Manmohan Singh should vacate the seat, making it easy for the Congress President Sonia Gandhi to install Rahul Gandhi or someone else (may be Pranab Mukherjee) to give a new direction to the UPA government and lead it into 2014 Lok Sabha election. But Singh, on his return from Myanmar, has made it clear he is not going anywhere as yet.
Rahul’s main aide under scanner
Rahul Gandhi’s main aide and adviser Kanishka Singh is in serious problem. After the UP debacle, where he lists high on those accused of sabotaging the Congress prospects because of wrong advice and ticket distribution, he is now being accused by the Congress leaders of Bihar for creating problems in the appointment of the new PCC chief. When a delegation led by Umesh Ram was summoned by Rahul Gandhi for consultations, they had to first go through Kanishka Singh. They were told by Kanishka that they should suggest the name of one Avdhesh Singh, a Rajput like Kanishka, but alleged to have criminal records. When these members met Rahul, they lodged their protest against Kanishka, who, they said, was lobbying with them for a person with a criminal background only because he is a Rajput. When Rahul asked them who, in their opinion, should be made the PCC chief, they named the erstwhile PCC chief Anil Sharma, a Bhumihar, who should take the place of the current PCC chief Mehboob Ali Kaiser, while, suggestions to make Harkesh Bahadur, a Rajput, the AICC in charge of Bihar also came along. The Sharma-Bahadur duo, in their opinion, could bring back the Congress’s original forward caste votes back into the party. With Shakeel Ahmad of Bihar holding a formidable position in AICC poised to give additional support and complete the upper caste Muslim combination in the state, the Congress then would have some chance of revival in Bihar, the delegation members advised Rahul.(IPA)