NEW DELHI: The challenge to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s leadership from his detractors i the Congress endorsing P-R.Kumaraman galam’s demand, that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) members resign, owning responsibility for the party’s overall poor show in the elections.
Minister of State for Wasteland Development Ram Singh in a letter to the Congress president on Novy.29, called for a discussion of the points raised by Kumamangalam in his long letter. “It is my Considered opinion that most Of the points raised in the letter (by Kumaramangalam) are Certainly pertinent to the present context,” Ram Singh said.
Observing that party workers in Rajasthan were disillusioned because of ticket allocation to a large number of relatives of the Congress leaders and outsiders, he said, the matter deserved serious consideration, “The very future of the party is at stake and all our workers are not only worried but also demoralized,” the minister said. He assured the Congress president of all help to strengthen the party.
Kumarmangalam’s letter, copies of which have been sent to all the Congress MPs, has set off a hew crisis in the panty with the possibility of the issue being raised at the CWC meeting on Wednesday. “It can be discussed if any (CWC) member raises the issue,” Congress spokesman V.N.Gadgi told reporters. There are clear indications that some more ministers will openly take positions on the issue of the party’s poor showing in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan, A number of ministers and prominent party MPs are said to have contacted Kumarmangalam on Monday expressing their solidarity with him.
Defending his position, the minister for parliamentary affairs said, “Tam voicing the feelings of a majorty of Congressmen. If it is revolt, then God help us.” Talking informally with reporters Kumaramangalam expressed sefous concern over the state of the party and remarked, “At this rate the party will slip into a setback Situation.” Arguing that the Congress performance in Rajasthan should be compared with its showing in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections in the state and not with the 1990 assembly elections, he observed, “We have emerged weaker,”
Demanding accountability for the ticket allocation fiasco in Rajasthan he quipped, “But for the relatives we would have formed the government.” The minister strongly denied that he had raised the issue on behalf of someone else, He said all that he demanded was, that the CWC members, including the Congress president, resign and take a fresh mandate from the AICC members.
Panicking by the sudden development, the Rao camp adopted a two-pronged strategy. While on the one hand Rao’s political managers prodded the loyalists to issue statements and write letters countering Kumaramangalam’s charges on the other hand they sought to play down the new challenge from the detractors.
Taking a cue from Gadgil who termed Kumaramangalam’s virtual chargesheet against Rao, as irrelevant.’ Minister of State for Railways K.C.Lenka in a statement stressed the need for rallying behind the Prime Minister. He said that the need of the hour was “to strengthen the hands of Rao to carry forward the task of purging our body politic of communalism.”
The Prime Minister himself hinted, that in.an attempt to get out of the new crisis he would outshoot his detractors in condemning the BJP.However, it is clear that in the next few days the anti Rao campaign within the Congress will acquire a new momentum, holding the leadership responsible for the party’s near rout in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi and giving away Rajasthan by indulging in nepotism in ticket distribution.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
