Kesri finally takes a walk

This is believed to have been promptly relayed to 10, Janpath following which Kesri is believed to have been summoned by Sonia last night. After their 50-minute meeting, Kesri was left with very little option and chose to quit.

Congress circles feel that Sonia will finally be the party president and also CPP chairperson, a post which will allow her to keep the CPP leader under control.Sharad Pawar is currently the frontrunner for the CPP leader’s post.

Before bowing out, Kesri took an unexpected pot shot at Sonia whom he had been eulogising all along. “Have you not seen how things took shape during the last two months. Nobody with self-respect would have tolerated this,” Kesri said in his office at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters minutes after announcing his resignation.

The CWC will now meet tomorrow and is likely to take up four important issues: Appointing a provisional president in place of Kesri, discussing the choice of the CPP leader, deliberate on whether or not to call an emergency AICC session (as Kesri has sought) and make a formal request to Sonia to take over as party president.

Soon after Kesri’s announcement, CWC leaders held informal parleys on its fallout on the party but the mood appeared to be upbeat. With Kesri now left with only his Rajya Sabha membership, Congress leaders feel things could improve if and when Sonia takes over. Kesri’sfuture was in doubt after Sonia repeated several times in her poll campaign that the Congress high command had shortcomings which could be corrected under the right leadership. Kesri gave an indication of what that under the right leadership. Kesri gave an indication of what that could mean. “From the beginning (of my tenure), I have been saying that I would make way for Sonia to take over the leadership,” he said.

He thus goes the way of his predecessor Narasimha Rao, whom Kesri gave a public ultimatum of 24 hours to step down from the CPP leadership after Rao had earlier quit the party presidency. There were few to mourn Rao’s exit and there appear to be even fewer to feel sad at Kesri’s situation. But before that, Kesri explained in his inimitable style when he made his final decision. “I was taking my morning walk. And wisdom strikes at the rarest of moments,” he claimed.

Addressing a jampacked press gathering, Kesri said: “Today I have decided to resign from the post of Congress president, whichI consider an institution, to which I was elected on June 9, 1997.”

“Eight thousand AICC delegates respectfully elected me and I would like to call an immediate session of the AICC and place my resignation before them.

There are several reasons for my decision but I don’t want to say anything now. I will put everything before the people who elected me but I want to add that there is no question of withdrawing my resignation,” he said.

In his room later, Kesri made a significant addition.

He claimed he was “perhaps a victim of conspiratorial politics”, a reference to CWC members like Arjun Singh, Jitendra Prasada, Sharad Pawar and others who wanted him out.

However, the party leadership doesn’t seem to be in a mood to call an AICC session. References were being made to the party constitution which rests all powers in the CWC to ratify the president’s resignation.

Kesri may thus not have his last request of going down before the AICC session. The names of three CWC members are doing the roundsshould the CWC appoint a provisional president AK Antony, Vijayabhaskara Reddy and K Karunakaran, to pave way for Sonia ultimately.