By Nora Chopra
RAHUL GANDHI REJECTS PLANS SUBMITTED BY PRASANT KISHORE
Prashant Kishore, the magic man of the elections, is unlikely to work for the Congress as Rahul Gandhi is said to have rejected his proposal outright. Rahul who is used to taking unilateral decisions, is supposed to have not agreed to what Kishore has suggested. Kishore had suggested to Rahul that the Congress should change his chief minister in Assam or else be prepared to lose the election. But Rahul who does not believe in changing chief ministers even if it meant losing power in the states. He did it in Haryana and he did it in Maharashtra. Despite pressure to change Prithviraj Chavan, Rahul opted to suffer the defeat in Maharashtra.. Similarly in Haryana where the Congress defeat was written on the wall, Rahul just refused to relent to any kind of pressure to change Bhupinder Singh Hooda. . The other thing Prashant Kishore wanted Rahul to do is to have an alliance with Mayawati and Ajit Singh in Uttar Pradesh. Knowing fully well that what it means to have an alliance with Mayawati, Rahul has simply rejected the idea. First and foremost Mayawati will not have any prepoll alliance with any one and even if she agrees. she will not give the Congress enough seats plus her demand for money will be huge. Besides there is a thinking in the Congress party particularly in the UP state leadership that the Congress should contest on its own or else it would disappear from the state.. Besides Prashant Kishore is said to be bargaining for a Rajya Sabha seat and it is to be seen whether Prashant would compromise on his plan if he is given a Rajya Sabha seat because Nitish Kumar needs 21 Congress votes to get his fourth candidate elected.
CONGRESS NOT INTERESTED IN ALLIANCE IN WEST BENGAL AND UTTAR PRADESH
The Congress will not have any alliance with any other political party in West Bengal Assam or even in Uttar Pradesh.. The Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is of the view that unless the party goes alone particularly in UP, it cannot revive. And if it fails to revive itself in Uttar Pradesh, it will be reduced to an irrelevant player nationally. Besides, Rahul has a major card up its sleeve. Maybe Priyanka Gandhi will be projected as the Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh.. In West Bengal too, the Congress is planning to adopt the r Go Alone policy. Despite the overtures from the CPI(M), the Congress has no plans to join hands with the left. Antony who is known as guide and philosopher of Rahul Gandhi has advised the Congress leadership not to go with the left parties in West Bengal since it can have an adverse impact on Congress fortunes in Kerala where the Congress faces challenge only from the left and all other political parties are non players. .If the Congress joins hands either with TMC or the CPI(M), it will only help BJP.. In Assam the Congress is in power on its own . Rahul who has allowed the dissent to grow in Assam leading to a split in the Assam party is however hoping still on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and despite pressures both from within and outside from other political outfits, Rahul is not willing to remove the 84 year old Gogoi nor will not go for an alliance either with Badruddin Ajmal’s UDF nor with Mahanta’s AGP.
CINDIA IS FRIENDLY WITH ARUN JAITLEY
During the last parliament session, the Congress had decided to field Jyotiraditya Scindia to speak on the DDCA controversy and take on finance minister Arun Jaitley. Half an hour before the Congress was scheduled to raise the issue, Scindia was nowhere to be seen and a hapless Congress had to pitch KC Venugopal, who had limited knowledge about the DDCA to talk on the subject. Scindia’s detractors are alleging that the Congress MP from Guna didn’t want to ruffle Jaitley’s feathers as he too, is in cricket administration. Besides his son is an trainee under Jaitley..
AHMAD PATEL MAY REPLACE MOTILAL VORA AS TREASURER
Motilal Vora, the Congress party treasurer is now 87 .So the thinking in the Congress party is that Voraji has become too old and frail it would not be proper to keep burdening him with more work. Particularly after the National Herald case, it was decided that Voraji is too old to work and it was because of Voraji that the Congress president decided to take bail. Now the party has started a search for a new treasurer. Among the names making rounds are of Kanishka Singh and Ahmad Patel. Patel has twice served as a treasurer and is a pucca Gandhi family loyalist. Under Voraji, the 130 year old party has become bankrupt. But Ahmad Patel is known to all top industrialists and the Party leadership expects him to improve finances.
SONIA GANDHI ESTABLISHES RAPPORT WITH MEHBOOBA MUFTI
The Congress president Sonia Gandhi ‘s move to go to Jammu & Kashmir to offer her condolences to Mehbooba Mufti personally is being seen as a master move. Using her feminine instincts, Sonia established a chord with Mehbooba and this has successfully created problems for the BJP, which is watching every move of Mehbooba with suspicion. Mehbooba is different from her father and has sought time to take oath. This is being seen as her dilemma over next step. For the BJP she may not be an easy customer, The BJP leaders were taken aback when the President’s rule was imposed instead of the BJP’s deputy CM being made as temporary CM. Meanwhile back channel talks have started between the Congress and the PDP. (IPA)