Moopanar may return to Cong

When contacted, a top All India Congress Committee AICC leader said tonight: quot;Who doesn8217;t want Moopanar to return? He is liked by everyone in the Congress and is highly respected. It was most unfortunate that he was forced to leave the Congress.quot;

An invitation to Moopanar to return is likely to be sent soon after the April 6 special AICC session here which willratify Sonia8217;s election as party president.

Apparently, Sonia has indicated that she would first like her presidency to be officially ratified after which quot;several importantquot; decisions will be taken. Some days ago Sonia had said there would be quot;lots of new facesquot; in the Congress soon. Should Moopanar return to the party, he is likely to be made a Congress Working Committee CWC member.

Moopanar was expelled by former Congress president PV Narasimha Rao after he formed the TMC in protest against Congress tie-up with Jayalalitha8217;s All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam AIADMK in the 1996 Lok Sabha poll. That was the first blow to the Congress and it set off a trend of leaders forming regional outfits by quitting the Congress.

It also altered the political equations in Tamil Nadu and the TMC-DMK combine swept to power in the State elections. Moopanar8217;s statement is the farthest he can go on rejoining the Congress before a formal invitation comes his way. He has excellent relations withSonia.

However, it is not clear to what extent he will be accommodated in the Congress at this point. Either the TMC and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee TNCC could have a quot;working arrangementquot; or the TMC would fully rejoin the Congress. Either way it creates problems for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam DMK Government in Tamil Nadu, already a target of the AIADMK8217;s offensive.Moopanar met Sonia a few days ago and quot;greetedquot; her on becoming the party president and Congress Parliamentary Party CPP leader. quot;I don8217;t know what TNCC president KV Thangkabalu had in mind when he gave the call for unity of Congress forces in Tamil Nadu. I need to know the details,quot; Moopanar said in Chennai today, adding, quot;until the matter is taken up by the central leadership of the Congress, I have no comments.quot;

In any case, Sonia is planning a thorough revamp of the Congress hierarchy starting with the CWC. quot;The rethink is at a very serious level,quot; a top Congress leader said today.

The immediate fallout of this policyreview is that two Sonia faithfuls 8212; Arjun Singh and ML Fotedar 8212; will find it tough to get into Parliament8217;s Upper House as was initially planned by them. Both are keen to contest from Madhya Pradesh but doubts have arisen about it after cross-voting in the party led to losses in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Also, some of the current CWC members could be replaced including the elected ones. The CWC now has 10 elected members: Jitendra Prasada, Ahmed Patel, Madhavrao Scindia, Pranab Mukherjee, RK Dhawan, Tariq Anwar, Arjun Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharad Pawar and Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy. AK Antony, Meira Kumar, Manmohan Singh, JB Patnaik, Lalthanwala are among the nominated ones.

Indications are that Sonia could replace Anwar, Mukherjee and Dhawan. quot;She will stress on accountability,quot; a party leader said. For example, Orissa Chief Minister JB Patnaik, who led the party to a virtual debacle in the State in the recent elections, could be in trouble.

Patnaik holds three positions now: CWC member, PCCpresident and Chief Minister, the only one in the Congress to do so. He is likely to lose one, maybe two posts going by available indications. Elected CWC members have a term of two years, meaning the current lot can technically remain in office till August 1999.

But moves are on to get the elected CWC members to resign and allow Sonia to have a fresh body. At least two CWC members considered close to Sonia are toying with this plan of action as not resigning would force Sonia to convert the elected ones to nominated ones like Narasimha Rao did in 1992.

All this will take place after the AICC session. Meanwhile, Sonia will address a CPP general body meeting tomorrow in Parliament8217;s central hall in the morning. It is slated as a routine end of a session meeting but it is the last CPP meeting before the AICC session.