NEW DELHI: The efforts of the Congress (I) dissidents to raise the demand for a change in party leadership received help from the most unlikely quarter.

The counter-measures taken by the Narasimha Rao loyalists to keep the scheduled meeting of the party dissidents from becoming a forum for attacking the Prime Minister generated a lot of heat and, in the process, gave free publicity to an event which possibly would not have got such attention.

As it turned out, it became a free-for all at the residence of Aslam Sher Khan, party MP who had called the meeting.

The exercise, which was ostensibly supposed to be an occasion for serious introspection over the reasons for the party’s reverses, was marred by dashes, slanging matches and slogan. shouting as the rival factions went after each other.

The ostensible purpose of the meeting was thus defeated. But if the organizers were not feeling dejected despite the fact that their invitations could not evoke any worthwhile response from party MPs, it was only because of the overzealousness of the Rao loyalists to prevent the meet from becoming a platform for Rao-bashing.

The parliamentary affairs minister, V.C.Shuda, is believed to have called up the party MPs persuading them to stay aloof from the ‘dissidents’ show.” Not content with that, the leadership’s trouble-shooters sought to ‘infiltrate the ranks of the rivals. They dispatched about 10 of the known loyalists to the venue of the meeting, thus setting the stage for excitement.

Police had to be called in and while at least one of the participants, who got injured in the clash, had to be taken to the hospital.

Trouble erupted when the loyalist MPs, Captain Ayub Khan, S.K. Singla, Dharampal Singh Malik objected to the attack on Rao by his known critic, Satya Narayan Rao, former AICC general secretary.

More tense moments followed when three of the speakers were shouted down while trying to defend Rao. Other loyalists like Harish Rawat and Naresh Agarwal soon walked out of the venue alleging foul play.

The drama notwithstanding, the meet was highlighted by the categorical demand from the former Union Minister, P.R. Kumaramangalam, that Sonia Gandhi should be asked to take over the party.

The proceedings also made it more than clear that Kumaramangalam, Aslam Sher Khan and Dilip Singh Bhuria have thrown their weight behind Arjun Singh. The supporters of N.D. Tiwari also participated in the meet.

 

Article extracted from this publication >> March 17, 1995