Elevated Pranab feels let down

NEW DELHI, Feb 4: Congress president Sonia Gandhi's reshuffle of the AICC general secretaries yesterday has baffled many in the party wit...

NEW DELHI, Feb 4: Congress president Sonia Gandhi8217;s reshuffle of the AICC general secretaries yesterday has baffled many in the party with at least two veteran party leaders, Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh, believed to be unhappy with their latest postings.

Mukherjee, who found himself named as one of the seven new general secretaries, left for Calcutta today after voicing his unhappiness in party circles close to him. Apparently, he was taken aback at his appointment which came without any hint to him before it was finalised. Consequently, the Congress veteran of many a decade finds himself on par with rookies like Ambika Soni as a general secretary. To add insult to injury, Mukherjee8217;s portfolio is hardly in keeping with his stature in the party as he has been asked to oversee states which Meira Kumar handled till yesterday. By all accounts, Kumar had done an inadequate job even though her charge was minor in comparison to others. Mukherjee has charge of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Madhya Pradesh.Chandigarh has one MP, Punjab 13 and Haryana 10. And MP, though a large State, only pits Mukherjee against his long-time colleague Arjun Singh and several other Congress leaders, a situation he might well rue.

Mukherjee was Indira Gandhi8217;s Finance Minister and was considered a potential Prime Minister after her assassination before Rajiv Gandhi was chosen PM. From such heights, Mukherjee has fallen to the level of an AICC general secretary under Sonia, a position seen as too junior for him. This is being seen as Sonia8217;s snub to party veterans, a feeling others like Arjun Singh too are understood to be nursing. Though Singh has reason to be happy, with his protege Ganga Potai being nominated to the CWC by Sonia, he has been put on par with Meira Kumar and Shivraj Patil as heads of various departments in the Congress. Some days ago Sonia created two new departments, one for the minorities and the other for OBCs and SC/STs. Singh heads the first with Kumar heading the second. Singh too had his share of powerunder Indira and Rajiv and has held many posts during his lengthy career like that of a Chief Minister, Governor, Union Cabinet Minister, in fact he was number two under P.V. Narasimha Rao, and even Congress vice-president under Rajiv. From there, he now finds himself as a mere head of a department. Like Mukherjee and Singh, other Congress veterans too are out in the cold in the Sonia regime. The Congress currently has a core of oldtimers, who have held many crucial posts in the government in the past, unlike any other party in the country.

This group has people like Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, K. Karunakaran, J.B. Patnaik, Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Sharad Pawar, S.B. Chavan, Sitaram Kesri and Narasimha Rao. They are referred to as the Congress 8220;grey nava ratnas8221;. Singh heads a party department, Mukherjee is an AICC general secretary, Patnaik on remote control after the Anjana Mishra gang rape and the Graham Staines murders, Reddy heads the party8217;s Disciplinary Action Committee DAC, Karunakaran headstwo committees reviewing the Congress constitution and implementing the suggestions, Pawar limited to Lok Sabha party leader while Chavan is at large with no portfolio of any importance.