Large sections of the Congress are upset with party chief Sitaram Kesri for appointing Sharad Pawar as the partys leader in the Lok Sabha. The resultant fissures could set back Kesris plans to withdraw support to the United Front (UF) government since he will first need to put his house in order.
The party does not seem to be moving in the direction of unity. All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad yesterday announced an election committee for Punjab without Harcharan Singh Brar, who was removed as Chief Minister soon after Kesri became the party chief. Intra-party rivalry could, as a result, become sharper in the run-up to the election.
At the Centre, not only are Pawars old opponents in the party, such as S B Chavan, Sudhakarrao Naik, A R Antulay and V N Gadgil upset, even a senior party office-bearer who is one of Kesaris closest associates said yesterday that he could at least have waited a couple of days.
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Of course, leaders such as G Venkat Swamy and K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, who had hoped to be appointed to the job that Pawar got, were bound to be upset.
Also among the hopefuls were the two dozen or so MPs who have proved loyal to P V Narasimha Rao throughout.
Although Pawars supporters, mainly from Maharashtra, are elated, many of the MPs from the minorities and the scheduled and other backward castes or Scheduled Tribes are upset. These sections had become Kesris firm supporters in recent months.
These sections, which had hoped that Kesri would become the Prime Minister sooner than later, now say that Pawars presence as leader of the party in the Lok Sabha will make that task more difficult. Pawars supporters publicly described him as the future Prime Minister at a reception on Sunday.
Although Kesris aides insist that their chief had not made a deal with Pawar before being unanimously installed as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) on Friday, large sections of the party have come to believe there was a prior arrangement.
They point to Kesris prompt announcement of Pawars suitability for the job in response to a shouted question immediately after his acceptance speech. The question came from Mamata Bannerjee, who was seated in the front row at the CPP meeting and had obviously been primed to seek the clarification.
Party circles also point to the fact that Pawar and Kesri had dinner together on new years eve, which was also the eve of the crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at which Pawar supported Kesris candidature, leaving Pilot as the sole contestant insisting on a secret ballot.
In fact, Pawar paved the way for Kesri by suggesting at the CWC meeting that a two-member committee be appointed to assess party MPs views. Manmohan Singh and Nawal Kishore Sharma were appointed for the purpose. That formula was bound to lead to Kesris election.