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Prasada files nomination for Congress presidential poll

Senior Congress leader Jitendra Prasada Sunday ended the suspense by filing his nomination against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the party's presidential poll scheduled for November 12.

"I have decided to continue the fight initiated by my late party colleague Rajesh Pilot for rectifying various ills in the organisation," Prasada told rediff.com after filing his nomination along with a large number of his supporters at the Akbar Road All India Congress Committee headquarters.

Prasada's presence in the AICC headquarters along with his supporters threatened to spark a fistfight with supporters of the Congress chief.

They were seen pushing and jostling each other. The timely intervention of some lathi-wielding cops saved the situation from going out of control.

Till Saturday, Prasada had not categorically specified whether he would jump into fray. But he finally took the plunge Sunday pushing up frayed tempers in the Sonia camp.

By raising the issue of inner-party democracy along with several others, Prasada has now almost made it a certainty that he will not abandon his challenge to Sonia even if he is offered some kind of sop in terms of a senior post in the organisation.

"Do you think Prasadaji is waging his battle against irregularities in the Congress organisational poll for crumbs," asked irate supporter Abhimanu Singh. "He is determined to teach these people (read the Sonia camp) that they cannot get away with cheating in the organisation," he added.

Although the Sonia camp managers have been maintaining that Prasada's contest would underscore inner-party democracy in the Congress, it was quite clear Sunday that Sonia's supporters have been rattled by Prasada's nomination.

Although it is certain that Sonia will romp home, the fact that she was challenged instead of being re-elected unanimously will hurt.

Party spokesmen Ajit Jogi, Anand Sharma and Prithviraj Chavan have been maintaining that Sonia is the undisputed leader of the party and that she will be re-elected without any challenge.

But Prasada has made them eat their words. They are now taking the line that the challenge reflects inner-party democracy in the party.

"I have already stated that I will not be failing in my duty to the party and this is why I have decided to fight the poll," Prasada told reporters at AICC headquarters.

Close by, Sonia's 10 Janpath residence was buzzing with activity with her raucous supporters shouting slogans and contending that " Jo Sonia se takrayega, choor choor hojayega "(anybody challenging Sonia will be pulverised).

However, Prasada's supporters contended that the very fact that their leader had jumped in the fray was significant.

"Now it is proved that Sonia is not the undisputed leader her managers have been claiming. Prasadaji is fighting against malpractices to buttress the Congress chief's chances and this message has already gone out to the people," Abhimanyu pointed out.

Earlier, Prasada's supporters had told rediff.com that after contesting the poll, he was likely to go to court over the alleged malpractices.

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