Jitendra Prasada Appointed Congress Vice-President

Congress president Sitaram Kesri yesterday announced the appointment of Jitendra Prasada as party vice-president but removed the source of his power in the same stroke, by saying he would not now remain the president of the partys UP unit, the largest in the country.

The new post could give Prasada immense power but it would be exercised under Kesris control. Since the post has no constitutional sanction, he would remain in office as long as Kesri pleases.

Meanwhile, Kesri will surely appoint a UPCC chief who would gradually wean away the loyalty of the states PCC and AICC delegates from Prasada, who has expertly worked himself into a commanding position among the delegates. He has the unquestioned loyalty of almost all of them.

 

The appointment was apparently worked out during the run-up to the recent election of Congress president, which Kesri won hands down. Prasada had been in touch with Kesris main challenger, Sharad Pawar, and only committed his and the large UP units support to Kesri a few days before the poll.

Arjun Singh weilded great clout when Rajiv Gandhi appointed him as the partys vice-president during the late 1980s. Before that, Kamalapati Tripathi was the partys working president. Kesri had spoken of the possibility of appointing a working president but told reporters yesterday that there would only be a vice-president.

Kesri said that Prasada would be entrusted with new responsibilities to face political, social and economic challenges before the nation. He added that,in non-Congress ruled states, his party would play the role of an active opposition. Where it is in power, it would try to help implement welfare programmes and policies to uplift the weaker sections.

Asked to comment on the setback to the partys image owing to the involvement of some of its leaders in corruption cases, Kesri said that every political party was affected by such cases. He cited the example of the hawala cases and added that, since the cases had been dropped, how can you say now they are corrupt?

He added that he was strongly opposed to any kind of nexus between criminals and politicians and said he would go all out to break it.

A political party has to keep its image clean and put its agenda before the people, he said, adding that our partys image has improved.

Asked whether his party would now try to woo Dalits and minorities, he said the Congress always enjoyed the support of all sections because it never gave up its fight to bring about social harmony. People will come to a political party when they are convinced that it has full determination to implement its programmes, he said.