Jai Sitaram!

The manner, style and methods by which he has succeeded in checkmating his rivals needs no repetition. That is a drama, evermore farcical with the passage of time, which the Congress party has enacted many times in the past. It succeeds because it is based on the sound logic that in unity lies strength, never mind for the moment who the leader is. Whence the first threat to the Deve Gowda government: the Congress party has decided to come together after a period of disarray and its members will pull together in the same direction once again. But while the goal is clear to all, the pace is not. It will be dictated by Mr Kesri who now controls the party apparatus as well as the parliamentary party. All things considered, he is not likely to tarry. The 43 MPs who stayed away from Friday's meeting will, by the end of this week, slyly sneak back into the tent. After all, there is the warm glow of prospective power inside. So the central political question today and for the next few weeks is: how quickly