Commentary/Rajiv Shukla

Kesri jo kehta hai karta nahin, aur jo karta hai kehta nahin

On April 11, Congress leader and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar was widely expected to speak for his party in Parliament. Pawar himself had prepared for it, but never got a chance.

Why? Because party boss Sitaram Kesri asked him to keep his mouth shut?

No, not really. In fact, Kesri, party sources say, was keen to have Pawar as one of the Congress's four speakers. The other three were Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, G Venkataswamy and Madhavrao Scindia. He had made a list of these four names, which was given to the party chief whip Santosh Mohan Deb. But when it reached Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma, it didn't have Pawar's name. Nor Scindia's or Venkataswamay's.

Obviously, somebody had substituted another list. And, to date, party sources claim, they haven't been able to find out who made the switch.

Venkataswamy was so upset at this he decided to quit and had carried his resignation letter to the Congress Working Committee meeting. Kesri and Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Jitendra Prasada persuaded him not to do so, sources say.

And Pawar? Pawar, too, was upset. But there wasn't anything he could do about it.

In fact, the Maratha strongman had been dead against the Congress withdrawal of support. He wanted Kesri to wait for a couple more months by when, he said, the Congress could have found a genuine issue to take to the people.

Before leaving for Pune late last month he had tried to ensure that support to the government was not immediately withdrawn. Sources say he met Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda for breakfast and had assured him on this score.

On March 29, Pawar rang his close associate Praful Patel in Bombay and asked him to find out about Kesri's moves, as there were unpleasant rumours going around. But Kesri, when Patel contacted him on the telephone, was noncommittal. All he would say was "Kesri jo kehta hai karta nahin, aur jo karta hai kehta nahin."

Next morning Pawar received a phone call from Kesri, but could not speak to him as he was addressing a meeting. It was only at 1 pm that the news of withdrawal of support reached Pawar -- both Kesri and Deve Gowda phoned him -- whereupon the Maratha strongman rushed to New Delhi to hold parleys with his trusted members of Parliament.

Pawar, says the Kesri camp, asked 45 to 50 MPs to join him in opposing the party chief's decision. He was also in touch with Deve Gowda. But he could not gather more than 15 MPs (including Mamata Banerjee, Girija Vyas, Sanat Mehta, Datta Meghe and P C Chacko) for an open revolt.

Sources say, people like Dasmunshi, Praful Patel and Pinaki Mishra discouraged Pawar, advising him to mount pressure on Kesri to ensure the Lok Sabha was not dissolved.

The day after the vote of confidence, Pawar hosted a tea party at his residence. A large number of MPs attended it, considering it to be an official meeting as invitations were issued by Congress Parliamentary Party secretary Prithviraj Chauhan.

"At the party, Pawar attempted to grab the CPP leader's post," charge Kesri loyalists, 'That is why Kesri went for a thorough Pawar-bashing at the CWC meeting."

They reveal that more than a dozen CWC members were asked to attack Pawar (they demanded his expulsion from the party). But Pawar, realising the danger he was in, met Kesri one day earlier and managed to buy peace.

The Pawar camp rebuts allegations of planning a coup against Kesri and trying to split the party. Their leader was only trying to reassure party MPs who had panicked at the possibility of a Lok Sabha dissolution. He only wanted to keep the MPs together, Pawar supporters claim.

Tell us what you think of this column