Somewhat enigmatic reply to a mews man’s query in Chandigarh to the effect that he never left the Congress points to a surprise tum that politics may take in the weeks to come. Since Chandra Shekhar has declared that V.P Singh “is not my leader” the speculation in Delhi is” Is Rajiv Gandhi filling the ‘vacant slot?
RK Dhawan is said to be engaged in a furious recruitment campaign for the Congress I. Primarily prominent ex-Congressmen are the main targets. The approach is to foment disenchantment with the Janata Dal and the National Front based on personal prejudices and accessions. The extreme manifestations of this disenchantment are Janardhan Thakur’s tendentious book on V.P Singh and Rajinder Puri’s departure from the Janata Dal.
However, the Congress I’s best hatchet man continues to be Subramaniam Swamy. Last week when Swamy was threatened with the chappal by a CPI M_P., and ever solicitous bureaucrat from the Prime Minister’s Office accosted the Janata maverick and took him straight to the Prime Minister’s room.
Who can tell who is on which side of the political fence when?
Article extracted from this publication >> September 1, 1989
