Fearing defeat, Pawar camp blasts Kesri

The Sharad Pawar camp has launched a frontal attack against Congress president Sitaram Kesri, alleging that he had made a mockery of the party's presidential election by doctoring the voters's lists "in his bedroom."

Pawar's spokesman A R Antulay and senior leader G Venkataswamy have lashed out at Kesri. Ventataswamy is the more aggressive of the two, alleging that the party chief had doctored the electoral lists from the grassroots to the PCC level.

Asked if Pawar would boycott the election in protest against the rigging, Antulay said this would disappoint the delegates who would elect the party president.

Venkataswamy pointed out that during his recent trip to Hyderabad PCC delegates had told him that they knew Kesri had rigged the lists and that they would vote for Pawar.

Despite written requests to party returning officer Oscar Fernandes, Antulay said voters's lists for Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Lakshwadeep, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Chotanagpur, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir were not sent to them.

Asked whether he suspected foul play by Kesri, Antulay said the media could draw its own conclusions since the facts were before them. He pointed out that only Kesri had received the voters's lists.

Significantly, the Pawar camp's attack against Kesri indicates it has begun to feel that the party president will win without much difficulty. Asked if Pawar would move the courts if Kesri won through unfair means, both Antulay and Venkataswamy said the question was premature. However, the very fact that they evaded the question forces political circles to jump to the conclusion that Pawar will seek legal redressal once the results of the election were announced.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty over the Congress organisational elections in Kerala has been cleared with the party president agreeing to appoint two additional returning officers.

As per the agreement thrashed out by Kesri and senior state leaders K Karunakaran and A K Antony, one of the two officials will be a person acceptable to the Karunakaran group which had revolted against state returning officer Kishore Chandra Deo last month. Deo -- who had resigned after the alleged assault by the Karunakaran group -- is expected to resume duty. The names of the two additional returning officers will be announced later.

The Karunakaran group was furious with Deo's list of block-level returning officers who, it felt, favoured Antony. A new list of block returning officers will now be finalised by the party leadership.

An Antony supporter said they would gain control of the organisation in Kerala if there was no foul play. In 1991, then chief minister Karunakaran rigged the organisational poll using the government machinery, the leaders alleged.