Anil Anand
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and veteran Congress leader, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad has been authorised by the party to hold talks with other opposition parties for arriving at a consensus to field a joint candidate for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s post. The authorisation came his way, he is being described as the leader of the G-23 rebellious group that had written a letter to the party president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi raising questions on her style of functioning and organisational matters, during a meeting of the Congress’ parliamentary strategy group under her leadership.
This development was preceded by Mr Azad retaining his position as the LoP in a rejig done by Mrs Gandhi immediately after the stormy August 24 Congress Working Committee ( CWC) meeting wherein he became the prime target of ire of the pro-Sonia-Rahul Gandhi group. It is another matter that the storm was withered after a resolution was unanimously adopted showing full trust in Mrs Gandhi’s leadership with a promise to hold organisational elections within next six months.
This also acted as solace and a face saver both for the ilks of Mr Azad notwithstanding the fact that his detailed interview to ANI, which was uncharacteristic of Mr Azad, wherein he counted his achievements during the last four decades including having resolved Punjab problem and set the Congress house in order in states such as Andhra Pradesh by winning 37 Lok Sabha seats and thereby paving way for the formation of UPA-I government. The tone and tenor of this interview did create waves particularly in the Congress circles. His punch line: “agar organisation ko strong karna hai aur Rahul Gandhi ko Pradhan Mantri banana hai, toe hum se baat karnin hogi”, set many thinking whether he was fighting to retain his own space or there was something more up his sleeve.
Nevertheless, Mr Azad retaining his LoP slot and getting an authorisation for holding talks with opposition parties regarding Deputy Chairman’s elections, has raised many questions and the foremost being if the G23-group has lost its sting and fallen in line or it has still cards down their sleeves to bare on some other day. Or that has the group been placated to buy time?
Fact of the matter is that despite the upheaval in the August 24 CWC and Mr Azad taking a strident position none had expected that he would retain his LoP’s job. As his Rajya Sabha term is ending early next year and given the Congress’ limitations, it is unlikely that he will get a renomination. In fact feelers had already been sent to him quite some time back that another Rajya Sabha term for him is a difficult proposition. Many of his detractors within the Congress feel that it ostensibly proved to be instigation for Mr Azad to ultimately lend his name to the rebel group. On his part Mr Azad has vehemently denied these allegations and has been persistent on his demand for a permanent party president and organisational elections and no one should have any qualms with him on that.
Both the moves- Azad retaining the LoP’s post and by dint of this position and his stature been authorised to work for a common opposition candidate- under the prevailing circumstances though have a symbolic meaning. But it is not lost anyone’s mind that Gandhi family, despite Mr Rahul’s Gandhi’s reservations which he had openly expressed in the CWC meeting, still look up to him as a trusted aide and an old loyalist.
Mr Azad’s role as LoP during the monsoon session of Parliament would be under close scrutiny. It would be under the keen observation of not only the Rahul Gandhi brigade and not only the Congress but also entire political spectrum. His every move vis-a-vis the government business would be under evaluation. The Congress’ deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Mr Anand Sharma who is also part of G-23 group, will also be under a similar scanner. Close Rahul Gandhi aide, Mr K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary (organisation), who was recently nominated to the Upper House from Rajasthan, has his task cut out.
What would Mr Azad’s role be in thrashing a common ground among the opposition parties on Deputy Chairman’s election? This question has become significant given the fact that Congress has already lost its strength considerably in Rajya Sabha due to a variety of reasons and one among these is defections of new kind engineered by the ruling dispensation; Make the sitting MPs of opposition particularly Congress resign from the House, join the BJP and field them again on the saffron ticket to fill the vacancy created by the same person.
If Mr Azad is able to develop a consensus among the opposition parties over a joint candidate, in all probability the honour will go to DMK or possibly Mamta Banerjee’s Trinmool Congress as the two parties have a sizable number of MPs in the House. The trickiest point for him would be make such parties agree to the other’s nominee. That would be first challenge for him. Of course his personal rapport and old ties with Ms Banerjee and DMK leadership in particular on one side and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, Mr Sharad Pawar on the other could be of immense help.
As the things on ground on the floor of the Rajya Sabha stand today, there is little chance of a joint opposition candidate even giving a close fight to the ruling alliance’s candidate. Since some of the opposition parties have been cosying up to the Government which was evident from time to time on crucial issues figuring in Parliament, part of the test would also be to prevent this from happening on Deputy Chairman’s election issue.
This is an interesting scenario that Mr Azad would be under greater close scrutiny of his own party rather than the ruling BJP and its allies. As is the wont with the ruling party and its strategists, Mr Azad might be in for a pointed attack on him by the ruling benches in order to keep him under pressure though the former like to keep him in good humour. The old seasoned campaigner that he is, such pressures are not new for him. But what is new this time is that he will have to be contended with bearing the pressure of his own party as well.
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