NEW DELHI: Two weeks after he took over the reins of the Congress Party, Mr. Sitaram Kesn has started making moves indicating that he and nobody else is in command. Elected on a majority decision as the Interim President of the 111yearold national political party, on September 23, the septuagenarian leader from Bihar has begun to assert him. First it was the postponing of the organizational elections and next came the appointment of Dr. Manmohan Singh, as a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the apex policy making body of the party. The tasks before the leader, fondly called as *Cha-cha”, both within and outside the party were well laid out, the sagging image of the party had to be restored, to checkmate the moves by a section of party members to join the United Front Government. The induction of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the architect of the economic reforms initiated by the Rao Government which now seems to have got embroiled in the corruption set, is a significant move. Dr. Manmohan Singh enjoys a clean image all over and catapulted on the national stage recently with the famous and now off repeated quota: “Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion” at the meeting of the Congress Party in Parliament convened during September to discuss corruption. The remarks in the CPP meeting were interpreted by a section of party members as something intended to convey the feelings against Mr. Rao, who was increasingly being targeted by the dissidents.

While Mr, Kesnri himself never made any commitment, are shuffle is imminent and indications to this effect were also available yesterday. Unlike Mr. Rao, the new Congress chief attends to work at the AICC headquarters at Ashpa> Road regularly and is accessing which puts him in an advantageous position. One of the formidable tasks before Mr. Kesri is to make the party strong and vibrant for which he definitely needs the help of all, a fact he knows too well. That Mr. Kesri chose to threaten the United Front leadership in the form of an “advice” cannot escape attention. The strategy, here seems to be two-pronged one to send a clear message to the political managers of Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda and the other is to convey the party leadership’s thinking on the issue to all sections in the Congress. The threat to the Deve Gowda government, whose survived hinges on the vital support from outside by the Congress party cannot be taken lightly.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 9, 1996