Mishra fears Kesri is delaying Congress organisational polls

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Congress high command's setting up of an ad hoc Pradesh Congress Committee for Haryana after dissolving the previous one is being resented by party dissidents with Dr Jagannath Mishra asserting that it signals party chief Sitaram Kesri's intention to postpone organisational elections.

While party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad pointed out that since the previous Haryana PCC was almost defunct and this was why the ad hoc committee had been set up by the party chief, Dr Mishra, a prominent dissident and a long-standing critic of Kesri, maintained it signalled the postponement of the organisational elections.

According to Dr Mishra "Sitaram Kesri nazuk stithi mein hain, isiliye woh nahin chahata hain ki philhal organisational elections hon" (Sitaram Kesri's position is delicate and that is why he does not want organisational elections to be held early).

The former Bihar chief minister and former federal agriculture minister also claimed that Kesri is busy uprooting the followers of former party chief P V Narasimha Rao. He said that this is why the present party leadership, controlled by Kesri, is revamping PCCs in other states too.

When asked whether revamping the party was not the party chief's prerogative, Mishra answered in the affirmative but pointed out that it could not be at the cost of "destroying the party". He said Rao had inducted experienced Congressmen in the PCCs and Kesri had no right to marginalise them.

Dr Mishra said the party chief had only met reversals after taking over. He mentioned the Congress electoral debacle in Punjab in the recent assembly elections and the party's failure to get the better of the ruling UF coalition in this context.

Instead of trying to unite Congressmen, Kesri is indulging in narrow-minded schemes to marginalise potential rivals within the party, Dr Mishra said.

However, he claimed that the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Sharad Pawar, had realised that Kesri was on a weak wicket and was, therefore, trying to assert his position in the party.

"Today Kesri has to reconcile that he is not the unchallenged leader. Sharad Pawar is breathing down his neck," Mishra said.

Referring to the Congress being apparently divided over the issue of supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party-sponsored motion on Uttar Pradesh governor Romesh Bhandari's recall, Mishra said the Congress leadership was still indecisive because of Kesri's "non-realistic attitude and inability to provide clear leadership".

There are many issues on which the party chief failed to inspire partymen, Mishra pointed out, adding that such were the reasons for Kesri's attempt to postpone the organisational elections.

H promised that he and his colleagues (Congress dissidents) would fight against the postponement of the organisational elections.