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Sonia plumps for fresh blood, ignores old guard

George Iype in New Delhi

One year after she took over the reins of the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is proving that age and experience should be not the sole criteria for advising her to take politically corrective action.

In a move that has upset the old guard in the party, Gandhi has pressed into service a host of younger leaders for political advice on subjects as varied as coalition problems, parliamentary debates and economic vision.

Thus, those who advise Gandhi on political parameters include the younger lot like Oscar Fernandes, Ajit Jogi, P J Kurien, Datta Meghe, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Suresh Pachouri, Kamal Nath, Anil Shastri and Girija Vyas.

Her main economic advisor may still remain former finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh. But who appraises Gandhi on the economic situation on a daily basis are Jairam Ramesh and Prithviraj Chavan.

While the young guard meets Sonia more often than others at 10, Janpath, those who have been left in the lurch in the party nowadays include veterans like Sharad Pawar, K Karunakaran, Motilal Vora, Pranab Mukherjee, S B Chavan and K Vijaya Bhasker Reddy. Not to mention former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and former party chief Sitaram Kesri who Gandhi never approaches for political counsel.

"The message Sonia is trying to send out is that the abilities of the older leaders are found wanting and the young leaders are endowed with the requisite qualities," a close associate of Karunakaran said.

Then there are other like Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Ahmed Patel, Sushil Kumar Shinde, A K Antony, P A Sangma and Meira Kumar who are said to be in the good books of Gandhi and whom she send out to settle state-level Congress problems.

Congress leaders state that the sudden "gear shift" effected by Gandhi is part of her vision to give "a new generational shift to the party" and therefore it should not construed that the old hands are being shown the door.

"Those who accuse Sonia of discriminating between various Congress leaders are engaged in a misinformation campaign. She respects and takes political advice from every leader who matters in the party," Anil Shastri told Rediff On The Net.

But, he says, "It is true that Sonia is giving opportunities for the younger leaders to come up in the party."

While the younger lot are elated over the faith that Sonia has reposed in them, the old guard led by Pawar are upset over the neglect meted out to them in the party.

Sources said leaders like Pawar, Mukherjee, Karunakaran and Chavan are never called to 10, Janpath for any discussions on such grave issues like the likely formation of a Congress-led coalition at the Centre, in which many believe Sonia is showing considerable interest now.

The only exceptions that Sonia has made are in the case of Arjun Singh and P Shiv Shankar, whom she still continues to consult on crucial issues such as Bihar.

Congress leaders put forward many reasons for Sonia's distaste of leaders like Pawar. First, they say, she is frightened that giving unlimited access to them can upset the power equations in the party.

Even as the Opposition's campaign against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government picks up momentum, Sonia loyalists believe making Pawar her chief political advisor could result in the former jostling for future power in the Congress party.

Pawar's fight for supremacy in the party -- ever since Sonia became party president last year -- has so far been unsuccessful.

While he has rarely shown any overwhelming support for Sonia's leadership in the past, the Maharashtra leader has opposed Sonia on some of the crucial issues like the reinstatement of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar and a debate on the dismissal of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat in Parliament.

Even though he is the Leader of the Opposition, Pawar feels that Sonia has always rejected his political strategy. "Pawar's style of functioning is different from Sonia's. The tragedy is that a section of anti-Pawar leaders in the party are Sonia loyalists," a Pawar supporter and a Congress member of Parliament from South India told Rediff On The Net.

Many in the party believe Sonia has relegated the old guard in the party to the sidelines because of "her problems with leaders like Pawar."

Unfortunately for Pawar, though he has the support of the maximum number of party MPs in the Lok Sabha, he is seen to be having little support in the apex Congress Working Committee.

In the current CWC set up, Pawar can possibly bank on support from other Sonia baiters like Jitendra Prasada, Mukherjee, R K Dhawan, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sitaram Kesri and Tariq Anwar.

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