Rao loyalists say Chavan is a traitor

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Shankarrao Chavan's attack on former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao has shocked Rao loyalists who describe the former home minister as "a shameless traitor."

Jagannath Mishra, who also served in the Rao government, said Chavan's attack on Rao is designed to curry favour with Congress president Sitaram Kesri. "Mr Chavan is desperate to get back into the spotlight and he doesn't mind abusing his benefactor for this purpose," Dr Mishra said.

Chavan's decision to "ditch Mr Rao," Dr Mishra added, was "crass political opportunism and in extremely bad taste."

Matang Singh, the former minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said Chavan's volte face is difficult to comprehend because the former home minister and Rao were "two sides of the same coin." Rao, he said, fully trusted Chavan who presided over Cabinet meetings in the then prime minister's absence.

Chavan's bete noire, Sharad Pawar, Matang Singh felt, is now a power centre in the Congress party and Chavan is keen to regain political relevance. "That is why he has hit out at Mr Rao about the demolition of the Babri mosque," Singh claimed.

One Congress joint secretary did not rule out the possibility of a secret understanding between Kesri and Chavan. Any attack on Rao, he felt, suited the Congress president.

With the Congress routed in the Punjab assembly election, this party official felt Kesri needed leaders like Chavan to rally around him, to thwart the expected attack from Rao's loyalists.