The more things change, the more they remain the same in the Congress party

George Iype in New Delhi

Four months after he became Congress leader, Sitaram Kesri is seen to be possessing two dangerous traits which cost his predecessor P V Narasimha Rao his job: procrastination and an affection for sycophancy.

When he became Congress president in October, Kesri had pledged to revamp the party and lead a crusade against corruption.

But observers say he has hardly made a difference; the morale of the party's rank and file is still low. What is more, his resolve to fight corruption has lost much of its sheen as he has nominated Buta Singh and Kamal Nath -- both of whom are named in the hawala chargesheet -- for the Lok Sabha bye-elections.

And the zeal with which he is carrying out a campaign to oust Rao loyalists from the organisation and induct his loyalists in key positions has alarmed many Congress leaders.

Many fear Kesri is treading the same indecisive path travelled by Rao in revamping the party.

As soon he was made Congress president, Kesri promised to nominate members to the Congress Parliamentary Board, the body that shortlists and decides candidates for all -- state and general -- elections.

But the CPB was never constituted. Instead, for next week's assembly election in Punjab an ad hoc committee headed by Kesri selected candidates. The result: The Congress is on the verge of losing the poll thanks to gross indiscipline in the state party unit.

In a stunning development last weekend, former Punjab chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar was expelled from the party for six years without even issuing him a show cause notice. His crime: Brar had withdrawn from the electoral fray without seeking the party leadership's sanction to do so.

Rao loyalist Maninderjit Singh Bitta, the former Youth Congress leader, was served with a show cause notice the same day to explain why he had not filed his nomination papers for the Punjab poll. Bitta claimed at a press conference in Jalandhar on Wednesday that Kesri had promised him in a telephone conversation on Tuesday that the notice would be withdrawn.

"Kesri has slipped into a Rao-like mindset and he is all set to induct sycophants in the party," feels a Congress leader from South India, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"In the new dispensation in the Congress," the South Indian leader added, "the party can neither grow nor it could be revamped."

There are a host of party appointments that Kesri has been delaying for several weeks now. He is yet to appoint the party's chief whips and deputy leaders in the two Houses of Parliament. Two vacancies in the Congress Working Committee are yet to be filled up.

Former Congress heavyweights Arjun Singh and Narain Dutt Tiwari, who returned to the party fold three weeks back, have been left in the lurch as Kesri is not in favour of inducting them into the CWC.

After the debacle in last year's general election, many senior leaders had advocated the removal of party chiefs in Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. No changes have yet taken place.

Kesri's associates say he is not in a mood to revamp the party as he fears it will result in rebellion. Earlier this month, Kesri's anointment of Maharashtra leader Sharad Pawar as the party's leader in the Lok Sabha disappointed senior leaders K Karunakaran, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and G Venkataswamy who feel slighted that they have not been rewarded despite their support to him during the Congress Parliamentary Party leadership crisis.

His unity moves have also come unstuck with the Tamil Maanila Congress, the major Congress breakaway faction, publicly stating that it is not in a mood to return to the parent party. "The TMC's invitation to the Congress to join the United Front government has embarrassed Kesri," a senior Congress leader told Rediff On The NeT.