The Hindu : DISSIDENCE IN CONGRESS

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Friday, Dec 26, 2003

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DISSIDENCE IN CONGRESS

WITH THE DISSIDENT faction in the Punjab unit of the Congress agreeing to let the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, handle the inner-party rivalry, the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, appears to have earned a respite. The Agriculture Minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, veered away from a confrontationist course, after initially insisting that she would not leave New Delhi until Capt. Singh was removed as Chief Minister. Ms. Gandhi held two separate meetings with Capt. Singh and Mrs. Bhattal last week. Although she could not immediately resolve their differences, the AICC president imposed her authority on the dissident faction and brought about a truce. Subsequently, Mrs. Bhattal attended office after a gap of a fortnight and Capt. Singh, in a mood of introspection, promised corrective measures to overcome mistakes made during the last two years. But if the issue were so simple as to disappear with the mere intervention of Ms. Gandhi, then it would not have assumed such menacing proportions in the first place. The problems are only too likely to resurface before the crucial Lok Sabha election next year, when both camps play for high stakes.

The origins of the dissidence lie in the corruption case against Mrs. Bhattal, a former Chief Minister. At a time when a Chandigarh court was to frame charges against her, Capt. Singh could not possibly withdraw the case. This was especially so given the background of the corruption cases filed by the Amarinder Singh Government against the leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), including former Chief Minster, Prakash Singh Badal. Any concession shown to Mrs. Bhattal would have lent credence to the SAD allegation that the Congress Government was indulging in political vendetta. With the coalition of SAD and the Bharatiya Janata Party clamouring for the resignation of Capt. Singh, a leadership change in Punjab would have meant handing over the political advantage to the Opposition. Further, the manner in which the dissidents sought to pressure the high command into forcing Capt. Singh out did not go down well with Ms. Gandhi. By giving in to such threats, the national leadership would have sent a wrong signal to dissidents in all the other Congress-ruled States, especially Kerala, where efforts are on to work out a compromise between the two dominant factions, one led by the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, and the other by the former Chief Minister, K. Karunakaran. In such a situation, the high command could only have bought time, which is precisely what it has done.

However, the dissidence inspired by Mrs. Bhattal found support among nearly half the members of the Congress Legislature Party because of the growing disenchantment with the style of functioning of Capt. Singh who seemed to be under the influence of a `pressure group' of senior officials. Also, the defeat of the Congress in three States in the recent Assembly elections encouraged the rebels to try and force the hand of the national leadership against Capt. Singh. However, with the Bill for checking defection getting Parliamentary approval, they would have been conscious of the serious limitations on their ability to pressure the high command. Given the need of the Congress high command to keep both factions under check, a resolution of the crisis is not likely to go beyond a forced compromise: more berths in the Cabinet for the disgruntled elements in the dissident camp and a respite for Capt. Singh. As long as the high command thinks it can avert a showdown, there will be no urgency in resolving the issue definitively.

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