By Nora Chopra
Mistry versus Diggy war heats up
The AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry is the new spokesperson of the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. He seems to have replaced Digvijaya Singh, who was known as the political mentor of Rahul. It was because of Singh’s tireless campaign that the party was forced to enhance the stature of Rahul Gandhi – till then a general secretary – to that of the party vice president. But his utterances early this week holding Rahul’s reluctance in taking the lead and his silence as the cause for the party’s defeat came as a shock to one and all in the party. The next day, Madhusudan Mistry, the man who is being held responsible for wrong selection of candidates leading to the party’s worst ever defeat, came and attacked Digvijaya. He said that whatever he had to say he should have said it in the party. The very fact that Mistry, a migrant to the party, despite complaints has been reassigned the job of selecting candidates and continues to be in-charge of UP is a clear indication of his close proximity to Rahul and the power he enjoys that he can attack senior general secretaries like Digvijaya or Janardhan Dwivedi. Mistry not only criticised Digvijay but even went out of his way to defend Rahul Gandhi. He said these people were in the screening committee as well as the campaign committee and the central election committee how is Rahul alone responsible for the defeat. On the other hand, the fact that Singh a one-time Rahul mentor has started criticising Rahul is also an indication that Diggy is being marginalised. Sources claim that Digvijaya has been wanting an appointment from Rahul but is yet to get the time.
Rajnath cornered, but Rajput politics on
Rajnath Singh may not have much support within his party but outside his party Singh enjoys tremendous political backing. He created a flutter in the corridors of power when he threatened to retire from active politics if the rumours about his son or any member of his family taking bribe were proved true, thus forcing the PMO and party chief Amit Shah to issue a contradiction. The day the incident happened, practically all opposition leaders are believed to have extended their support to him. Many leaders like the JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and the NCP’s DP Tripathi even came on record rubbishing the allegations against him. There are 108 Rajput MPs cutting across party lines who are believed to be backing Rajnath. It is said that it was these Rajput MPs, who after holding a meeting, instigated him to go ahead and throw the challenge. Though the Congress from the official podium used the issue to put the BJP in a spot but then individually there are people who were heard sympathising with Rajnath. Digvijaya Singh in an unofficial media interaction said that he had warned Rajnath Singh should not project Narendra Modi as the PM and now he must have seen the real face of Modi. He said when he was in Madhya Pradesh, he had never done Rajput politics though he had done Muslim and dalit politics. ‘But now it seems I will have to do Rajput politics,’ Diggy said. He has started an All India Rajput Federation under the banner of which they would fight for Rajnath Singh and other issues of the similar kind. In the interaction with the media he also said that if the Rajnath’s astrologer is to be believed, Rajnath would be PM by January 2015.
Jyotiraditya Scindia in tough spot
It is not the good times for the Congress MP chief Jyotiraditya Scindia. He has been pushed to the back foot on the ragging scandal in the Scindia Boarding School. As head of the board of governors, he feels he should not be held responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the school. He is facing difficult times even in Parliament. Despite the fact that Scindia is the chief whip of the party in Lok Sabha, none of his party members joined him when he rushed to the well on the issue of a building collapse in Mumbai. If the buzz is to b believed then since most MPs are from Kerala and Karnataka, they prefer to follow Mallikarjun Kharge. Back home, he may have won the chairmanship of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association but he did not get any support from his own party men. He had to rely on some BJP leaders to tame his rival Kailash Vijayavargiya to retain his hold over the body.
Gujaratisation of Lok Sabha
With Narendra Modi as PM, it is going to be Gujarat and gujju bhais all the way. After packing his PMO and his residence with people either with Guajarati antecedents or who have worked with him in Gujarat, not forgetting the Gujaratisation of the BJP with his confidante Amit Shah taking over as the party chief, now it’s the turn of the Lok Sabha. Varesh Sinha, Gujarat cadre officer of 1977 batch and currently the chief secretary of Gujarat, is now all set to replace PK Grover as secretary general of Lok Sabha. Grover retired on 31 August but his contract expires only after 31 October of this year.
Congress divided along Rahul-Sonia camps
The war between Sonia Gandhi camp and the Rahul camp has further intensified with Digvijaya Singh, once the mentor of Rahul Gandhi holding Rahul responsible for the party’s defeat in Lok Sabha. Digvijaya is no more the Rahul insider after he allegedly messed up in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, Madhusudan Mistry, who is the current Man Friday of Rahul Gandhi, took on Digvijaya and countered him. Now about 16 young AICC secretaries appointed by Rahul Gandhi have come together to take on the old guard critical of Rahul. These secretaries met in Punjab Bhavan on Monday night and wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding immediate meeting of all general secretaries and secretaries. In the letter they have said that all these secretaries who are blaming Rahul are equally responsible for the defeat as they were party to all the decisions. Third they have said that they should be told to stop going public. Whatever they have to say they should say in the party forum. Meanwhile, in Maharashtra where the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan too has held Rahul Gandhi and the UPA government responsible for the party’s humiliating defeat, a senior Congress leader and former MP Naresh Pugulia came out heavily against the CM. Pugulia blamed Prithviraj for the defeat. He said in a press conference it was the wrong policies of the CM that were responsible for the poll debacle in Maharashtra. He said that the CM has been blaming others to hide his own drawbacks. He has demanded that Prithviraj Chavan apologise for ignoring the interests of party workers and the people of Vidharbha and the whole of Maharashtra. (IPA)