Opinion Inside track
Kejriwal called Hazare his guru during the Lokpal campaign, which he exploited to become a nationally known figure.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Power struggle
Though Rahul Gandhi is slated to take over as party president in early April, Sonia Gandhi may not withdraw completely from active politics. She could be appointed chairperson of the Congress parliamentary board and continue to play an advisory role. There is much curiosity about the fate of Ahmed Patel, Sonia’s political secretary, in a Rahul Gandhi dispensation. Rahul loyalists resent the fact that Patel has so far had the upper hand in many key appointments. They are keen to dismantle the working system put in place by Patel. The old guard continues to wield clout judging by the recent Pradesh Congress Committee changes. Most of the newly named PCC heads are close to 10 Janpath. True, Delhi PCC chief Ajay Maken is a Rahul loyalist, but he has lost his position as AICC general secretary and head of the media cell.
Parting of ways
Arvind Kejriwal is earning a reputation for biting the hand that feeds him. The ouster of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav was done at his insistence. Years ago, Kejriwal worked under Aruna Roy on the Right to Information campaign. Roy acted as his mentor and guide, recommended him for the Magsaysay Award and helped him when he started his NGO Parivartan. But later he had a bitter falling-out with his mentor. Even those who were associated with Kejriwal in Parivartan, such as Anjali Bhardwaj and Panini Anand, have now left him. Kejriwal called Anna Hazare his guru during the Lokpal campaign, which he exploited to become a nationally known figure. But he disregarded Hazare’s wishes not to join politics. When he formed the Aam Aadmi Party, the initial donation of Rs 1 crore came from Shanti Bhushan. Bhushan’s son Prashant was largely responsible for conceptualising AAP and spreading its message. Several of the corruption exposes came from Prashant. Now Kejriwal’s supporters dismiss Prashant as just one of its 1,000 founder-members. Yogendra Yadav is another one-time ardent supporter-ideologue who enthusiastically campaigned for the party.
Heartburn in the House
Navaneethakrishnan, AIADMK leader in the Rajya Sabha, received a harsh message from Jayalalithaa, asking him to allow V Maitreyan, the deposed leader of the parliamentary party, to speak on the President’s address on behalf of the party as she was very annoyed about the poor performance of the AIADMK in the Upper House. Navaneethakrishnan is now admitted in a government hospital. It is reportedly due to hypertension but, according to party buzz, it’s because of the ‘humiliation’ he suffered. Navaneethakrishnan, in his short spell as AIADMK Rajya Sabha leader, has not set an inspiring example. He was seen dozing during the President’s address. When asked to speak on the Vote of Thanks, he got up and tapped the mike and started calling out “Hello, hello, testing, testing’’ to the amusement of the rest of the House. The informal language he used in his speech in the reply to the President’s address was reported by a Tamil newspaper, and an angry Jayalalithaa asked for a full text of the speech and was appalled at its poor calibre.
Curious combination
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, who wrapped up the deal with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, has left for Sri Lanka on an unofficial preparatory trip for the Prime Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka. The media has commented on the stark contrast between the two negotiators for the BJP-PDP alliance: Madhav, a hardcore RSS prachark, and Haseeb Drabu, PDP MLA and an economist. Initially, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed wanted Muzaffar Baig to be his interlocutor with the BJP. But when Mufti discovered that Baig had met Narendra Modi on his own, he became suspicious and deputed Drabu. Baig is now sulking. In fact, before the BJP and PDP came together, the BJP had approached the National Conference for a tie-up. But Omar Abdullah had declined, confident that the PDP and BJP couldn’t sup together. At one stage, Mufti even had grand plans for a PDP-BJP-Congress alliance since he felt this would send a message to Pakistan about an evolving consensus on Kashmir. But the Congress refused to play ball.
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