The Congress mess

The Congress high command is making a right mess in Maharashtra. Bent on meting out punishment for the defeat of her personal nominee in the Rajya Sabha election and stymied in her search for culprits, Sonia Gandhi has hit out arbitrarily. She has seized upon the election to the Legislative Council of Arun Mehta, a former Congressman standing as an independent, and found fault with the process. Regardless of the fact that this is not a cut and dried case of party indiscipline, the MPCC president, Ranjit Deshmukh, has been prevailed upon to resign, owning moral responsibility, and 10 MLAs have been served show-cause notices. This is quite disproportionate action in relation to the alleged misdemeanour and is being seen as such in the Maharashtra Congress. When the Congress has managed to get all its party candidates elected to the Council plus an independent, it amounts to penalising the MPCC for its success. Meanwhile the central issue of the role money played in cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll is allbut forgotten. Some sort of self-delusion is clearly at work here.

How did this bizarre situation come about? Sonia Gandhi has shown an admirable doggedness in getting to the bottom of the Ram Pradhan fiasco. No doubt her motives were the best. But fact-finding committees and emissaries sent to Mumbai were able to identify only one of several MLAs who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election. This was embarrassing for the new party president. To turn a blind eye to such a high-profile case would be a display of weakness. Disciplinary action was necessary and would be salutary for a party which has long forgotten that there is such a thing as the party line. Something obviously needed to be done for the sake of Sonia Gandhi8217;s reputation and the well-being of the party. The course taken, however, is unlikely to do either much good. What the party leadership has managed to convey by its lopsided moves is that it is unable to handle the situation. In fact, the most likely explanation for what is being done isSonia Gandhi is the captive of courtiers and busy-bodies and cannot see the wood for the trees.

At his meeting with Sonia Gandhi on his return from London, Sharad Pawar is said to have admitted to possible misjudgements in the Rajya Sahba election. Whether Sonia-Pawar differences were resolved is unclear but she had every reason to accept that his intentions were good. Even within the context of the underlying tussle between her and Pawar, it was always absurd to imagine that the Maharashtra strongman would lend himself to an act of defiance as transparent as scuttling Sonia Gandhi8217;s handpicked candidate. It is difficult to see how matters can improve after the latest events which leave much scope for further misunderstanding. Destabilising the pradesh committee in the one State it can count on for positive results is a luxury the high command can scarcely afford. Why mess with Maharashtra? It is not as though there is nothing to do in UP, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal where the State units are stillheadless and in urgent need of rejuvenation.