CPP poll result reflects divide between pro-and anti-Sonia forces

NEW DELHI, AUG 14: The recently-concluded Congress Parliamentary Party CPP elections have brought to fore the apparent divide between th...

NEW DELHI, AUG 14: The recently-concluded Congress Parliamentary Party CPP elections have brought to fore the apparent divide between the MPs loyal to party chief Sonia Gandhi and the ones who are disillusioned with her leadership.

While this may not immediately spell trouble for Sonia, the fact that a large number of MPs from both Houses chose to disregard the 8220;unofficial8221; whip to ensure the defeat of 8220;rebel8221; candidate Noor Bano, is likely to have an impact on the party8217;s organisational polls, which are round the corner. Bano was able to poll 76 votes, eight short of her nearest rival Sona Ram Choudhary.

Although, it8217;s not possible to point out who voted for which candidate, since the polling was done through secret ballot, party insiders say that it may be those MPs who had been unhappy with party chief8217;s 8220;style of functioning8221;. The coterie surrounding Gandhi rallied around Bano and chose this occasion to vent their feelings.

Party circles view the CPP results as a trial of strength 8212; a kind of precursor to the coming party polls 8212; between Sonia loyalists and elements within the party who are not favourably disposed towards her. While Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Ambika Soni and Margaret Alva are said to have put their weight behind the 8220;official8221; candidates P S Ghatowar and Sona Ram Choudhary, other senior leaders such as Jitendra Prasada and C K Jaffer Sharief are reported to have canvassed among the MPs for Bano.

According to sources, Bano got her support cutting across regional and caste lines, from some MPs from Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh 8212; the common ground apparently being a sense of dissatisfaction at the way the party was being run under the present dispensation.

The indication that the CPP elections were a battleground for the trial of strength was apparent when the all-out efforts by the party high command, to effect a consensus among the candidates to avoid any embarrassment, failed after Bano and Kapil Sibal who won the CPP secretary post for the Rajya Sabha refused to withdraw their names.

Propped up by the so-called dissidents in the party 8212; which includes not only the CPP but also those outside it 8212; Bano stuck to her candidature. And if dissident leaders are to be believed, her candidature was a trump card which will benefit them either way, in her victory as well as her defeat.

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Now, in Bano8217;s defeat by a narrow margin, the dissidents feel that they have still managed to score a point, apart from proving that she had the approval of a sizable number of MPs despite being perceived as a rebel candidate, her loss is only going to reflect badly on the party leadership since she was the only woman candidate in the fray and also from the minority community.

Dissidents have already begun a whisper campaign in the party that her defeat was engineered by the coterie around Sonia. 8220;Her defeat may just have backfired on the party high command8230;on one hand the party chief has been pledging greater representation for women and minorities in the organization while on the other hand she watched her coterie ensure the defeat of Bano, who fulfilled both criteria,8221; a party leader asserted.