Woman power. Yes, this is what the Congress thinks it needs in Maharashtra to swing the votes of the urban and rural women towards it. With this view in mind, the party high command is now looking for a woman with a modern face to head its unit in Maharashtra.This new talent scout by Congress president Sonia Gandhi is aimed at reducing factionalism within the party and presenting an articulate and dynamic face of the Congress. According to sources, incumbent president of the state unit women’s wing Rajni Patil, Minister of State for Public Works Vasudhatai Deshmukh and former Member of Parliament Usha Choudhari have emerged as the likely contenders.Going by the caste equations worked out by the party high command, Deshmukh’s replacement is likely to be a Maratha, as CM Sushilkumar Shinde is from the Dalit community. Unable to shake off the increasing factionalism at every level within the Congress, senior state party leaders are slowly mooting the idea of a woman president.It may be recalled that the late Premlatai Chavan, Pratibha Patil and Prabha Rao all headed the MPCC during poll years.While Vasudhatai and Chaudhari are both from Amravati, Patil is from Beed, Munde’s constituency. Patil is the English-speaking, bobbed hair, chiffon saree-clad modern face of the Congress. She also enjoys excellent rapport with Sonia. Patil is also the proprietor of a sugar factory — considered an added asset.In 1998, Patil defected to the BJP and won the Beed seat for the party in the Lok Sabha elections. Though she enjoyed an excellent rapport with Munde, she defected back to the Congress prior to the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. She was then appointed president of the state women’s wing of the party.Soft-spoken Vasudhatai has also been the deputy Finance minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh Cabinet. Though Vilasrao Deshmukh’s name is also being whispered as a likely successor to incumbent MPCC president Ranjeet Deshmukh, the All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra affairs Vayalar Ravi ruled out the possibility.
