Kesri meets Tiwari, plans to fix Prasada

Congress president Sitaram Kesri’s recent meeting with senior party colleague Narain Dutt Tiwari is creating something of a political storm, with party circles speculating that the meeting owes to Kesri's desire to counter vice-president Jitendra Prasada.

What occasioned raised eyebrows is that Tiwari actually cut short a visit to Canada in order to meet Kesri, at the latter's request.

This is especially significant as Tiwari -- and one time fellow rebel Arjun Singh -- have both been sidelined by the party chief after they rejoined the party fold. Thus, the meeting is being seen as indication that the senior leader from Uttar Pradesh is on the way to a complete political rehabilitation.

Congress officials in fact indicate, in context of the meeting, that Kesri is actively considering the question of who is best suited to lead the party in the crucial UP state, and that the meeting with Tiwari was to discuss this subject.

Read the above in context of the now famous rift between Prasada and Kesri, and the direction the wind is blowing in becomes very clear. Prasada has of late been doing his damndest to strengthen his hold on the party machinery in the state. However, the recent Sultanpur incident wherein Prasada's supporters virtually roughed up Kesri during a public function has widened the rift between the two to near unbridgeable proportions.

The first indication of the fact that Prasada is now officially out of favour came when Kesri failed to include the former in the five-member committee to implement the party’s policies and programmes.

Prasada meanwhile has, while mouthing lip service to Kesri, been buttressing his own position in the state, in anticipation of an imminent clash with the party chief.

Uttar Pradesh is very high on the Congress agenda at this present, given the fact that the Kalyan Singh-led BJP-BSP government has just assumed office. The Congress appears to believe that this is its best chance to improve its own image in the politically crucial state, and Kesri would like a 100 per cent loyalist at the helm at this point in time.

There is, meanwhile, some speculation -- of an admittedly lower key -- among Congress officials that the Kesri-Tiwari meeting could also have discussed an alliance with the Samajwadi Party to take on the BJP-BSP combine. The Congress, well aware of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's clout in the state, is keen to join hands with him in order to further its own prospects -- and the main stumbling block in the way of any such alliance is, again, none other than Prasada himself.

Tiwari for his part has a fondness for Yadav, and this could be a key factor in his sudden rapprochement with Kesri.

Kesri himself has been characteristically tightlipped about the meeting, and indeed about all matters relating to UP. The only official word -- actually, calling it a hint would be more accurate -- is that a firm decision on who will lead the party in UP will be taken within the fortnight.