Kesri Announces Tentative Date, Venue For Aicc Session

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The first plenary session of the new All India Congress Committee may be held in Calcutta on August 8, 9 and 10, Congress President Sitaram Kesri said yesterday. He told reporters the dates and venue had not been fixed and that these were tentative.

The main item on political agenda at the session will be the election of the Congress Working Committee.

For Kesris detractors, it will be the last opportunity to check his power, by ensuring that at least one or two leaders willing to speak out against him are elected to the partys highest policy making body.

That will not be easy, since Kesris managers have packed the All India Congress Committee with loyalists of state satraps like Uttar Pradesh unit chief Jitendra Prasada, Tamil Nadu unit chief Thangkabalu and Andhra leader K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy.

Among the only party leaders opposed to Kesri who has some support in the new AICC is Sharad Pawar but even his supporters are limited to about 300-400 members from Maharashtra.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has the support of about 200 members but is quietly trying to mend fences with Kesri, who has shrewdly got the state unit to authorise him to nominate its president.

If he nominates someone other than Ajit Jogi, who had been set to win the election hands down, it will signal that Kesri is willing to accommodate Singh.

Kesri told reporters yesterday that he would take the general consensus before nominating a president for the state unit, thus indicating that he may nominate a leader less strongly opposed to Digvijay Singh.

Jogi was the nominee of Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh, both of whom are opposed to the Chief Minister and are considered close to Kesri.

However, Kesri may be uneasy about allowing the only Congress government in a major state to be destabilised.

Kesri, who is the unchallenged leader of the party after his thumping victory in the party presidential elections, indicated that he would try and carry his opponents along with him. Asked whether he would talk to Mamata Bannerjee, the West Bengal leader who boycotted the organisational elections, Kesri said he loved her like his daughter.

He also indicated that he would not share power. Asked when he would appoint a working president, he said he would do whatever was necessary for the smooth running of the party. On the day he was elected, he had indicated that he may appoint a leader, possibly Jitendra Prasada, as working president or vice-president. No doubt he will keep everyone in the party guessing until after the new CWC is in place, since his priority now must surely be to ensure that no critics are elected to the body.