Pawar wants Kesri to nominate him to CWC

Realising that he has a slim chance of being elected to the Congress Working Committee, Sharad Pawar, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, has begun a discreet campaign to persuade party president Sitaram Kesri to nominate him to the CWC.

Senior Congress officials point out that Pawar knows his chances of being elected to the CWC are poor. Consequently, Rediff On The NeT learns he has requested some senior associates to lobby Kesri to nominate him to the party's highest decision-making body.

However, the Congress president has not yet constituted the committee which will oversee the establishment of the CWC. On Sunday Kesri told a party delegation that he is undecided about which Congress leaders should be on the CWC. Some younger Congress politicians had met Kesri to lobby him about creating a "balanced" CWC with both older and younger leaders represented on the panel.

Orissa Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik has asked Kesri to nominate all 20 CWC members so that he can retain his grip over the party. However, other Kesri loyalists like his political secretary Tariq Anwar, Balram Jakhar, Ashok Gehlot and Ghulam Nabi Azad have urged the Congress president to form a committee that will oversee the creation of the CWC.

Kesri's lengthy meeting with Arjun Singh late last week is also viewed as significant in Congress circles. Neither Singh nor Narain Dutt Tiwari were rewarded with CWC posts after their return to the parent party last winter. Singh, party sources revealed, is in favour of an election to fill the berths on the CWC.

Even as the uncertainty over the CWC continues, Kesri is said to be annoyed by party vice-president Jitendra Prasada's decision to form a panel of supporters like Janardan Poojary and R K Dhawan should an election be called. Congress sources say Prasada has also angered Kesri by booking 80 rooms in Calcutta's five star hotels for the All India Congress Committee session on August 8.

Senior leaders, sources claimed, have asked Kesri to clip Prasada's wings in view of the latter's imperious functioning at party headquarters.