'After the party elections, Sonia will emerge as the undisputed leader'

George Iype in New Delhi

Congress president Sitaram Kesri has reduced the ongoing organisational elections to a farce by inducting his nominees into the electoral college which elects the party president on June 9.

Despite stiff resistance from arch-rivals like Sharad Pawar, Rajesh Pilot and A R Antulay and many revolts in state party units, the outcome of the party president's election is a foregone conclusion: Kesri will win.

Many Congress leaders believe the election will leave the party deeply divided, to the advantage of the United Front government headed by Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

Several partymen from across the country have turned to the parallel power centre within the Congress -- Sonia Gandhi -- for help. But Sonia, who became a primary member of the party in March, is assiduously giving the impression that no Congress leader including Kesri is her favourite.

Senior Congress leaders interpret her silence as an indication about her future plans. "Soon after the party elections, Sonia will emerge as the undisputed leader," says K Karunakaran who alleges that pro-Kesri groups have launched an orchestrated move to block other leaders in all the states.

"If Kesri wins through these unethical methods, there will be revolts in several states," Karunakaran told Rediff On The NeT, adding that he has met Sonia and asked her "to save the party by restoring transparency and inner party democracy in the Congress."

Leaders like Karunakaran believe there will be a realignment of forces in the Congress soon after the organisational polls as the fight between pro-Kesri and anti-Kesri groups has further tarnished the party's image.

More than 50 million primary members and two million active members are involved in the mammoth exercise of electing leaders to the block, district and state units. The charge against Kesri is that he has appointed his nominees as returning officers in all the states. These officers in fact decide the selection of 7,219 delegates who in turn elect AICC members as well as the Congress president.

In a calculated move to scuttle the prospects of rivals like P V Narasimha Rao, Pawar and Pilot, Kesri has been promoting leaders opposed to the trio in the Pradesh Congress Committees, particularly in the bigger states.

In Uttar Pradesh, which sends the largest number of delegates -- 1,144 -- to the electoral college, the Kesri camp is backing Congress unit president Jitendra Prasada because of the latter's opposition to Pawar.

In Bihar, Kesri's followers have succeeded in cornering their opponents in the state. Anti-Kesri MPs like Dr Jagannath Mishra, S S Ahluwalia and Gyan Ranjan have threatened to hold parallel polls.

In Andhra Pradesh, Kesri allowed K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy to nominate his supporters as delegates which led AP Congress leader V Hanumanthappa Rao to stage a hunger strike in the capital last week.

In Kerala, Kishore Chandra Deo, the returning officer, quit after Karunakaran humiliated him publicly. Karunakaran alleged that Deo had struck a deal with A K Antony to stall his entry into the AICC.

In Madhya Pradesh, Kesri allotted only 125 delegates to Chief Minister Digvijay Singh out of the state's 562 delegates. Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh, Kesri's new-found allies, grabbed the rest. Kesri doubts Singh's loyalty as the CM is believed to be close to Pawar.

In Punjab, state Congress chief Santokh Singh Randhawa resigned last week, accusing Kesri of "not following democratic and constitutional norms" for the organisational polls. Randhawa later withdrew his resignation, but anti-Kesri sentiments persist in the state Congress party.

In Maharashtra, Kesri and Pawar followers have almost an equal number of delegates. In West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee has disassociated herself from the electoral process, charging PCC chief Somen Mitra with rigging the election of 398 delegates.

Kesri loyalist and party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad brushes aside allegations of foul play, saying that some Congress leaders are "making a mountain out of a molehill."

"The electoral process has been fair to the maximum possible. Therefore, to charge that there is favouritism and rigging in every state is baseless," he said.

Azad told Rediff On The NeT that "Kesriji is not running away after announcing the polls. Every day, he is meeting all those leaders with complaints."

In the last half century, Congress presidents were elected by consensus except in 1950 and 1977 when there were contests for the post. In 1950, P D Tandon defeated J B Kripalani; in 1977 Brahmananda Reddy beat Sidhartha Shankar Ray.

Congress veterans recall that in 1972, Indira Gandhi's control over the party was absolute and it was no surprise that she was unanimously elected Congress leader. Twenty years later, in 1992, P V Narasimha Rao was elected president, amidst some controversy.

Some Congress leaders view the present upheaval in the party as the beginning of radical changes that will convulse the Congress soon.