Kesri-Prasada rift continues despite denials

Even though junior Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi sought to deny a rift between Congress president Sitaram Kesri and party vice-president Jitendra Prasada on Friday, the indications are otherwise.

Jogi claimed that the reported manhandling of Kesri in Sultanpur on Wednesday -- the Congress chief is said to have been pushed around by unruly partymen, allegedly Prasada's supporters -- was ''concocted'' by the media. However, he could not convincingly explain why on seeing Kesri the Congress workers had shouted slogans in support of Sonia Gandhi.

Naresh Aggarwal -- Prasada's nominee for the Uttar Pradesh Congress chief's post -- who was also present at the media briefing, claimed that all Congress workers in the state were the party veep's supporters and that whatever had occurred in Sultanpur was more of a demonstration of support for Sonia rather than any deliberate attempt to insult Kesri.

But it is gradually becoming apparent that Kesri and Prasada are at loggerheads.

Their rift has deepened after the Congress boss constituted a five-member AICC committee to implement the party's action programme. Political observers, however, regarded the panel as Kesri's subtle move to prune the Congress Working Committee's powers. They regard the committee as a 'super CWC'.

Significantly, Kesri excluded Prasada from this committee which includes the likes of Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee.

One of Kesri's political aides told Rediff On The NeT that the tensions between Kesri and Prasada will continue until the UP Congress chief is appointed. It is common knowledge that Prasada has begun demonstrating his support in the UP party unit in order to have his nominee, Aggarwal, appointed to the post.

But Kesri has decided he will get down to the job only after he completes the nominations to the CWC.

Congress officials do not discount the possibility of Prasada enlisting support from the Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot camps in the party. Now that the battle lines are drawn, they said, anything is possible.