Kamal Naths Choice May Put Kesari In A Spot

Congress president Sitaram Kesaris rhetoric against corruption is under increasing strain, the latest pressure point being the likelihood of a ticket for former minister Kamal Nath to contest the by-election for the Chindwara Lok Sabha seat.

Nath is among those who had to resign as a minister of state after he was charged in the hawala scandal last year. There has been another scandal over his shifting the course of the Beas river so that it flowed next to his hotel near Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson hedged yesterday, when he was repeatedly asked whether Nath would now be given a ticket to contest the byelection. Kesaris predecessor, P V Narasimha Rao, had denied Nath a ticket before the general elections last May. He fielded Naths wife, Alka Nath, instead.

She resigned recently, leading to speculation that Nath wanted to be back in the House in time to become a minister if the Congress succeeds in cobbling an alternative coalition.

Indeed, having achieved the limited objective of ousting Rao from the leadership of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), Kesari appears to have cut down more and more on his initial promise to clear the partys image as a den of corruption. He had listed it as one of his three chief objectives, along with reunification and revitalisation of the party.

Asked whether the Congress Election Committee (CEC) would give tickets to those charged in the hawala and other corruption cases, the spokesperson yesterday said: I expect the CEC not to give tickets to persons with bad image. But, CEC is normally not in the picture when byelection tickets are given. The Congress president consults the pradesh Congress committee (PCC) chiefs and Congress legislature party (CLP) leaders and then they decide.

When he was asked whether those who had been charged in the hawala case would be rehabilitated, he said: Some will be rehabilitated, some one month later, some later. And some will rehabilitate themselves.

Though the reinduction of Madhavrao Scindia, who is also charged in the hawala case, into the party soon after Kesari became its president, did not have a negative impact, later inductions have not gone down so well.

There was criticism both within and outside the party of the reinduction of former Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa. More recently, Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari, who have also been charged in the hawala case, have been reinducted.