With the announcement by his supporters that Rajesh Pilot will contest the election for the presidentship of the Congress party, one thing has become even more clear: in spite of Sitaram Kesri's insistence to the contrary, the party is far from being united behind the current leadership. In fact, Sharad Pawar is also thinking of contesting the election, but has so far refrained from making an announcement. Perhaps he is waiting to see which way the wind blows from 10 Janpath. It is not yet fully clear what Sonia Gandhi's intentions are. While some say that she will take over the party "" which would be handed to her on a platter "" others are equally insistent that she will not. Then there is the Narasimha Rao factor. The former prime minister and Congress president has not forgiven Mr Kesri for what he regards as his perfidy. And though he is down, he is far from being out. He is still a player in Congress politics. So whichever way one way looks at the presidentship issue, Mr Kesri has a problem on his
hands: he simply isn't the leader which he would like to be.
Of course, the mere fact that Mr Pilot has thrown his hat into the ring may not mean very much. He has done so in the past also, only to back off at the last moment. He has thus acquired a reputation for brinkmanship through he which extracts some concessions and mileage for himself. For that reason, his candidature will not be taken seriously by his partymen. And as for Mr Pawar, despite his ambitions, he is not known to make his attacks frontally. So his challenge could also peter out as he makes his interminable calculations and waits for Godot. Nevertheless, both he and Mr Pilot must hope that, by merely posing the challenge, they can position themselves as party heavyweights. If so, Mr Pawar with his larger following will have an edge over Mr Pilot.
Mr Kesri, meanwhile, has managed to attract the support of Sonia Gandhi, who has given up her practice of avoiding political gestures and statements. She has twice shared a platform with Mr Kesri in the last one week. On neither occasion was the memory of Rajiv Gandhi involved to serve as an excuse. This could be an important factor in Mr Kesri's favour as he tries to round up his flock. Indeed, given the way Congressmen think and behave, it is more than likely that Mr Kesri will win the election without too much difficulty.
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But that will still not solve the Congress's problems, especially since. It has lost too much ground to pose a major challenge to the BJP in the next general election, which now appears none too distant. Should Sonia Gandhi happen to take over the leadership, it might make some difference to the final tally but not a very substantial one. In fact, that is probably the most powerful factor preventing her from making known her intentions plans immediately. Like Mr Pawar, she too might be waiting for the right time.