Nominations To Cwc Only After Vice-Presidential Polls

Congress president Sitaram Kesri is unlikely to nominate the remaining nine members to the Congress Working Committee before the election for a new vice-president is over this Saturday.

A party MP close to Kesri said the party chief did not want to upset any party leader until then, fearing another setback after leaders like Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar, both of whom Kesri wanted to keep out, were elected to the CWC over the last weekend. For the moment, he will show everyone carrots, said the MP.

Kesri needs to persuade his party MPs to vote for the United Fronts candidate, S Krishna Kant, whom he decided unilaterally to back. Most party leaders had expected that he would insist that a Congress leader should be the joint nominee of the Congress and the United Front. Najma Heptulla had been the frontrunner among Congress leaders.

Kesris confidants already expect that MPs loyal to Sharad Pawar and PV Narasimha Rao will vote against Kant. SS Barnala of the Akali Dal already has the support of the bloc of parties allied with the BJP and could get the support of the DMK because of his role when he was the governor of Tamil Nadu.

Barnala could get through if there is substantial cross-voting from among the Congress ranks. If Congress leaders are traditionally opposed to the Akali Dal, they are even more oppposed to Kant for having rebelled against Indira Gandhi during the Emergency.

Leaders close to Kesri say that, when he gets around to making the nominations, Kesri is likely to choose Nawal Kishore Sharma, Oscar Fernandes, Meira Kumar and one or two more Dalit and tribal leaders.

He may not nominate AK Antony, since he is the leader of the Kerala CLP, unless he chooses to appoint him as the partys vice-president.

Kesri could appoint a second vice-president to clip the wings of the current vice-president, Jitendra Prasada. He lobbied for the victory of Sharad Pawar and against K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, who was on the official panel.