Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil may be able to save his North Block office from the political assault of the Delhi bomb blasts, but significantly, and perhaps for the first time, top leaders within his own party have expressed their apprehension about Patil’s performance to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Following this meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold a special meeting with the agitated UPA allies to take them into confidence in the government’s fight against terror.
A senior minister, considered close to Gandhi, today discussed with her the political fallout of these terror attacks. He observed that the serial terror attacks will “damage the prospects” and “affect the image” of the party.
While Gandhi has been Patil’s main pillar of political strength for the last four years, Congress circles are agog with what they see as evidence of Gandhi’s attempt to seek an independent opinion on the political situation arising out of these security failures.
Gandhi also held a meeting with Defence Minister A K Antony and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the security situation. Patil was not invited. Later, she summoned the party’s campaign managers, including Veerappa Moily and Digvijay Singh, to formulate a counter-propaganda strategy. Patil was absent from this meeting too.
A senior party functionary even cited former Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon’s example to Gandhi to illustrate how resignations could act as political messages. According to this key leader, Menon was sacked after the India-China war to show to the nation that the government did have accountability. However, in Patil’s case, a senior minister told Business Standard, “it is too late to remove him. Hardly a few months are left for the elections. But we don’t really know what Soniaji will finally do.”
Meanwhile, the party continues to publicly back Patil. The Congress today tried its best to dispel impressions that there was any move to replace the home minister. “There is no question of making this issue a referendum on any individual’s performance,”
party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. Instead, it repeated its old demand: the creation of a federal security agency with the support of the Opposition-ruled states.
The Congress also hinted that Patil’s resignation was out of question as it maintained that “terrorism can’t be fought by token gestures”.
Privately, Congress leaders point out that there is no guarantee that even if Patil is removed the new minister will be able to stop all terror attacks. Also, it will be a wrong signal for the nation that Patil was shunted due to a terror blast.
