Sonia bumps into Sushma at Bellary

It was a display of secrecy last seen in the party when Sonia’s predecessor Sitaram Kesri drove around Delhi in 1998, shaking off mediamen, before reaching Rashtrapati Bhavan with the letter which pulled H D Deve Gowda’s Government down.

Kesri’s mysterious attempts failed to instal a Congress Government, forcing him to back I K Gujral instead, and Sonia’s stealth only ended up with the BJP’s stormtrooper Sushma Swaraj filingher papers soon after Sonia, thus pushing the Congress chief into a fight she tried her best to avoid.

Apparently, Sonia managed to fool everybody, except the BJP whose top troika of Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Khushabhau Thakre tapped Intelligence reports and dashed Sushma off to Bangalore last night, where she lay in wait for Sonia to reach Bellary. The stage is now set for a high-profile and potentially electric contest between two steely women, each determined to leave their mark on the nation’s polity.

Also, the native-versus-alien topic provides people with an alternative issue to Kargil, with Sushma and the BJP planning to put all into this crucial battle and pin Sonia down to Bellary. The BJP also plans to force Sonia into a debate on Indian ethos, national aspirations and Parliamentary experience.

All of which, it alleges, are alien to Sonia. The general BJP idea is to paint Sonia as raw, foreign, dynastic, out of tune and insecure, which is why she “searched all over the country fora safe passage into Parliament”. To an extent, the Congress invited such charges as it sent Sonia across three states, told mediamen she would file her papers from Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh, and generally gave the impression that it was coy and nervous about its president’s future.

Party general secretary Pranab Mukherjee seemed to find the whole episode funny as he joked with the media on how full of suspense Sonia’s debut electoral foray was. But it was the BJP which was laughing the last, having sent one of its own stars to Bellary.

Sonia, who also plans to contest from Amethi, has a potentially tough fight there too, with the ruling party fielding Sanjay Singh, a man known for his rough politics. She thus has two problems on hand, a situation far removed from 10, Janpath’s initial schemes.

While Amethi is still considered a family borough of the Gandhis, Bellary is a different issue altogether. The constituency’s demographic profile suits the Congress, at least on paper, as it is Lingayat-dominated.Twenty per cent of people in Bellary apparently are Lingayats, 17 per cent SCs, 13 per cent Bedars, 12 per cent Muslims, 10 per cent STs, nine per cent Kurubas, six per cent Adi Karnatakis and three per cent Bovis.

Also, Bellary has always returned a Congress candidate to the Lok Sabha beginning 1952, and is thus considered safe for Sonia. However, the Congress vote percentage has been dropping constantly and was down to 40 per cent in 1998 from the 1971 high of 72 per cent. Sonia is thus entering a situation where she has to reverse the trend, while Sushma has to create history of sorts if the BJP has to wrest Bellary for a non-Congress nominee for the first time ever.

One advantage with Sushma is the recent consolidation of Lingayats around the BJP with a former Congress union minister Chandrashekhara Murthy, a Lingayat leader, joining the party. In addition, the vote percentage of the BJP and the Janata Dal, who have since joined hands for this election, together was more than that of the Congress inBellary in 1998.

And if Sonia’s entry into Bellary is any indication, she could have more trouble on her hands than is currently anticipated. Last night, she left Delhi for Hyderabad, but not before the high drama in the party headquarters adjoining her residence. First, a press conference was hurriedly convened to announce her filing of nomination papers.

It was equally swiftly cancelled when the party felt secrecy was a better option. Then, Sonia took AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Ghulam Nabi Azad, along with her, but told no one. The duo arrived in Hyderabad at night, where Azad claimed she was contesting from Cuddapah. In Delhi, Congress leaders kept the confusion alive with contradictory indications.

The names of Cuddapah, Bellary and Chickmagalur did the rounds till midnight, leaving it to journalists to follow their individual instincts before filing reports. In the morning, Sonia left Hyderabad for Cuddapah in a helicopter, which was then diverted to Bellary. At 12.50 pm, shewas in Bellary, where she first comforted K C Kondaiah, the Congress’ initial nominee who became a dummy candidate once Sonia chose Bellary.

After this, Sonia drove down to Basavarajeshwari’s house, who was thrice Bellary MP. In the end, the Congress president arrived before Returning Officer Raj Kamal and presented four sets of nomination papers. As Azad claimed later, she had “bowed to the overwhelming demands of people from Bellary”.

She would need plenty of such wishes, if the trouble she took has to be worth it.