NEW DELHI: Under sustained attack from his detractors in the Congress, a battered Narasimha Rao is reportedly looking for a new ally to checkmate whom he reckons as the principal source of a renewed challenge to his position Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Ever since a Delhi court issued a summons to the former Prime Minister in the Lakhu bhai Pathak case, the Rao camp has seriously considered the possibility of readmitting into the party Arun Nehru, a former Union minister and more importantly, the second cousin of the late Rajiv Gandhi. According to a close Rao aide, Mr. Nehru would be in a position to effectively counter the pressure from Sonia, given the incompatibility of their relations and his advantage of being from the Nehru Gandhi clan. Coming under increasing flak from the dissenters following the party’s worst ever poll performance and a host of corruption charges, Mr. Rao has been looking for a lieutenant for the task of crisis management. In fact, Mr. Nehru, keen to come out of his political hibernation. Had an unpublicized meeting with Mr. Rao days after the election results were out. While maintaining a cautious silence on the prospects of his return to the Congress, Mr. Nehru has confirmed his meeting with the Congress president. “I meet so many people, I have any number of friends (among politicians), I might have met VP, and how does that matter?” he said last week, when asked about his meeting with Mr. Rao.

Mr. Nehru has been out of active politics ever since he had fallen out with Mr. V.P. Singh following the collapse of the Janata Dal Government in 1990. Despite his interactions with a few senior BJP leaders fuelling speculations of his joining the party, Mr. Nehru has remained out of active politics. With his back to the wall, Mr. Rao is said to be desperately in need of someone who could bail him out of the present crisis. Said a Rao confidant, “A decision has been taken (to take Mr. Nehru back into the Congress), the question is that of timing.”

There is a feeling in Mr. Rao ’sinner circle that Mr. Nehru would be able to do the sparring on behalf of the beleaguered Congress president. However, any move to readmit Mr. Nehru into the Congress is sure to meet with stiff resistance including some of Rao’s loyalists. The mutual antipathy between Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Nehru being too well known, the possibility of his return to the Congress could provide the Rao detractors with another cause to fight for. However, in the face of sustained attack from his opponents, Mr. Rao is said to be willing to clutch at any straw.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 17, 1996