Cong ropes in Dilip Kumar to counter Pawar

Maharashtra is one of the few states with simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly and the Congress is keen to maintain its edge of 1998 when it won a large chunk of seats to the Lok Sabha. This time, however, things are a little different with Pawar’s NCP expected to be a significant threat to the Congress.

The Samajwadi Party and at least one faction of the RPI, led by Ramdas Athawale, who were both Congress allies last time, have joined hands with Pawar for this electionand initial reports suggest that the Congress might not be able to retain the same number of seats it won last time. The Assembly polls too are being considered a tough nut to crack and Sonia apparently is in no mood to take any chances.

If the Congress manages a good showing in Maharashtra, it would be a huge boost to Sonia and the 17-member coordination committee is a step in this direction. It is one of the first such panels set up by Arjun Singh after he was given charge of winning over Muslims to the Congress side. Curiously though, the panel consists almost wholly of Muslims, without members from other minority communities, and the only non-Muslim is actor Sunil Dutt.There is also no woman in the panel. Headed by Sunil Dutt, who is the committee convenor, the panel has Dilip Kumar, former MP Rafique Zakaria, Arshad Siddiqui, Iqbal Dudhwala, Maulana Iqbal Kashmeri, Naseem Khan, former JD Maharashtra president Hussain Dalwai, Muslim Personal Law Board secretary Sattar Shaikh, Maulana Zillur Rehman, AllyAsgar Hydery, M A Azeez, Dr Kazi, Yusuf Lakdawala, Shaikh Shahabuddin, Kamal Farooqui and Misbah Alam.

The glamour comes from Dilip Kumar and Sunil Dutt with the former having just gone off the front pages after his brush with Sena chief Bal Thackeray over the Nishan-e-Imtiaz award conferred on the thespian by Pakistan last year. Kumar had spent a week in the Capital and met several top politicians including Laloo Yadav and his wife, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and his colleagues, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani.Apparently, he had also agreed to work for the Congress at the same time and this is his first full-time political job. The Congress is hoping to encash on the thespian’s fame and image to gain votes. With Sunil Dutt in tow, Dilip Kumar is considered a formidable factor which could at least have an impact on the Muslim mind. Only two days ago, Bal Thackeray was disenfranchised by the President for making inflammatory speeches four years ago in Mumbai. The Kumarversus Thackeray battle could enter its second round during the poll campaign, this time over the minorities’ votes.