Digvijay Singh

Selection of Congress selectors in doldrums

Prashun Bhaumik |

Digvijay Singh

Congress committees to select candidates for the coming Assembly polls have been a non-starter, with even the names of chairpersons awaiting formal announcement. 

By Sanjeev Acharya 

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had set up a committee under the chairmanship of A.K. Antony, Defence Minister and moral icon of the party, to set the house in order prior to the forthcoming Assembly elections of five states followed by the Lok Sabha poll. The task given to this committee is to reorganise the party structure in states, fine-tune electoral strategy and select candidates well in time.

However, there is total confusion and uncertainty as far as electoral strategy is concerned, especially regarding forthcoming Assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. More than three weeks after the announcement of chairmen of screening committees for selection of candidates for these states, the process is stalled due to delay in formal declaration of the committees.

Congress workers of Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh along with Delhi rushed to Delhi to meet, greet and submit their bio-datas to the newly appointed chairpersons of the screening committees of the Congress Party. But to their utter dismay and surprise, none of these leaders had got official letters of charge. Digvijay Singh was appointed chairman of the screening committee of Rajasthan. Mukul Wasnik is general secretary in-charge of the Rajasthan Congress. But due to ill health, he could not contribute the required time .so high command has deputed Jat Leader of Haryana, Choudhary Virender Singh as coordinator of Rajasthan. This move was aimed at wooing the restive Jat community in the state. It is a well known fact that the Jats are dead against Ashok Gehlot. That’s why they opposed the nomination of Digvijay Singh as the chairman of the screening committee of Rajasthan as there is a popular belief in the party that Digvijay Singh is a close friend of Ashok Gehlot.

A Jat leader of Rajasthan told CURRENT, “It is really unfortunate that the Congress high command is being misled by some vested interests that Ashok Gehlot should be given a free hand in selection of candidates for the Assembly elections.

The same irony prevails in Madhya Pradesh. Senior leader of the party Veerappa Moily is supposed to head the screening committee of the state. But till date, he also has not been informed formally. Already there is silent but strong resentment among the Congressmen of Madhya Pradesh that the high command is blindly supporting Suresh Pachauri due to his closeness to political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel. The general secretary in charge of the state Narayansamy and secretary in-charge Jitin Prasada are both known supporters of Suresh Pachauri. In that case, how can there be neutral assessment of the probable Congress candidates? Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia’s supporters are upset due to this.

In case of Delhi, party general secretary Mohsina Kidwai is supposed to head the screening committee. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit may not openly oppose her name but insiders know that the appointment is not acceptable  to Mrs Dikshit. The rivalry between the two is well known.

In Chhattisgarh, the problem is more serious. Former chief minister Ajit Jogi may have been sidelined by the high command due to obvious reasons, but he enjoys more support than Motilal Vora. As Vora is able to manipulate the AICC, he affects every decision regarding the state. The fact is that he has no mass base in the state. He is a leader only due to his management in Delhi.

One of the CWC members, on condition of anonymity, stated that Congress needs an overhaul. Everybody is hopeful that Rahul Gandhi will break this Delhi durbar nexus of leaders without a base. Those, who could not win their own election should not be given the responsibility of either selecting candidates or charting out electoral strategy. It is high time to correct this wrong as the party has already suffered huge setbacks in the last few elections.

Congress workers are not happy with the appointment of committees like the Antony Committee. The reason is obvious, as the recommendations of these types of committees can never be implemented. There had been many committees in the past, their recommendations are lying in the dust. It is rather hard to change the prevailing system.

The Congress party had appointed the Future Challenges group headed by M.Veerappa Moily. The task given to them was to address the issue of reviving the party by suggesting intra-party reforms. The hope is that since Rahul Gandhi himself is a a member of this group, atleast this committee would yield concrete results. but so long as the Age old style of slow and hidy culture will remain, even Sonia or Rahul Gandhi can not do anything. They realy have to implement Kamraj Plan at Organisation level.