Current Events CONGRESS (I) the boat from being rocked. A Congress (U) leader said: "She is keeping her options open. These men can hardly swing the organisation away from her. But meanwhile, Keeping The Lid On they could at least minimise dissensions which will tend to come more from the older Raiiv Gan(l/ii should br inducted into Says Rath obliquely: "There is no succession partymen." politics toJill the ~~acuumcreated in the Cong- controversy in our party. Some people have Within the Youth Congress (I), there is ress (I) by the death of Sanjayji. It is mv been issuing statements to suit their own no leadership change in the offing. Rath firm helicf that the Nehrz~,familyalone could interests." has given up his plans to retire from the project the secular concept and implenient According to indications, Mrs Indira organisation because finding a successdr socialist policies. Gandhi is also-against any succession moves. to him at this stage could create an unseemly -Sameal-e-Nabi, Bihar minister of state Recently, when a Karnataka member of coritroversy. for health, June 25. the Rajya Sabha, who was collecting sign- But those ebullient followers of Sanjay I don't see the mantle drop on the should- atures from MPs in support of Rajiv, went who suddenly came into prominence be- ers of his brother Rajhl ... Tlze only possible to get her approval, she reportedly tore it up cause of their proximity to Sanjay have inheritor of the cult ,figz~reis Maneka. She is and reprimanded him. adopted a low profile as they test their like her late husband utterly Jearless. And Advisers Chosen: At the party level, support bases. This has strengthened Rath's wl7en roused, the very incarnation of' Durga four senior party leaders have been asked position in the Youth Congress (I). astride the tiger. by Mrs Gandhi to look after party affairs. Thus. on the organisation front, the -Khushwant Singh, MP, June 28. They represent a cross-section of the party's Sanjay fallout has been contained. The U'lint is parricuhrlj* ur~seetnii~is the older leadership and their one qualification only immediate question of succession is to nzmlrtrr in rthlch certain interested persons seems to be that they are comparatively non- Sanjay's Amethi parliamentary con- had started dropping names soon after the controversial while-professing unquestioned stituency-and that can wait. national tragedy in total disregard to the loyalty to Mrs Gandhi. Dissensions Surface: But in the states, sentiments of the Nehru Familj~. -National Herald editorial, July 2. smoke-screen of the mourning for THESanjay Gandhi is no longer there to hide thc fissures in the Congress (1) whose power structure has been thrown out of equilibrium. Hope and despair are the driving forces behind various partyrnen who think they now have a chance to stage a comeback and those who feel their position threatened. The issue of a succession to Sanjay has for the time being been put in cold storage. Says Arif Mohammed Khan. MP, and All India Congress (I) Committee (Aicc-I) joint secretary: "All this talk about Sanjay's succe- ssion is meaningless. Sanjay has not left be- hind any constitutional gaddi to be filled. He gained his position after three years of Foremost among them is the sphinx-like the discipline and the process of change struggle and no individual can get it over- Uttar Pradesh leader Kamlapati Tripathi, which Sanjay had sternly ushered in was night." whose most famous statement to date is: beginning to crack last fortnight. In Uttar While several individuals and groups "If you want to save India, you have to save Pradesh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the hand- tried to canvass support for Sanjay's brother the Congress. And if you want to save the picked chief minister of the central leader- Rajiv and widow Maneka, Congress (I) Congress, you have to save Indiraji." An- ship, who has no following of his own, controlled newspaper, The National Herald. other is P.V. Narasimha Rao, the external could not have a speaker of his choosing, whose publisher is Mrs Gandhi's trouble- affairs minister who played the role of the Vasudev Singh, a Thakur like himself. He shooter, Yashpal Kapoor, con emned such think-tank during the party's days in the had to submit to the Brahmin lobby which moves as in "bad taste." Mos1 of the party opposition. Sanjay had held on a tight leash and make leaders who have independent sources of Pranab Kumar Mukherjee. the com- their nominee Sripat Mishra the speaker. strength concur. merce minister, who was the party's treasurer The incipient revolt also manifests it- Succession Issue: Says ~amachandra during the days out of office and one of self in petty ways. At one of the LTttarPradesh Rath, the president of the Youth Congress Mrs Gandhi's trusted lieutenants, and civil Congress (I) legislature party meetings some (I): "In a democracy, there is no question aviation, tourism and labour ininister, A.P. of the MLAs objected to Sanjay Singh, the of succession. Rajiv and Maneka, for whom Sharma of Bihar who is also the president state Youth Congress (I) chief and a prottgk the people have warm feelings, are intelligent of the powerful Indian National Trade of his namesake, occupying a place of persons. It is for them to decide whether to Union Congress (Intuc) are the other two. honour on the dais with the chief minister join public life and pave their own way by Sanjay's relations with them were not too and the state party leader, Dharam Veer and their own merit and work to the position cordial, with the exception of Mukherjee Yashpal Kapoor. Sanjay had." and possibly Shanna, and they represented In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, all There is a feeling among this section a style of politics and a political structure the 305 bttar Pradesh Congress (I) MLAs that attempts to build up a Sanjay successor which Sanjay thought was obsolete. did not vote the way they were asked to. is the handiwork of the politically insecure Strategic Choice: Now by turning to While Dharam Veer and Kalpnath Rai got who had,thrived under Sanjay's umbrella. them, observers feel, she is trying to keep more votes than they were allotted, the INDIA TODAY. JULY 16-31. 1980 -- Current Events- favourites of the central leadership, like MP, and a member of Sanjay's Doon Pradesh seek election to the state legislature. Aicc (I) general secretary Ram Sewak. got School gang. It was only some weeks earlier Of them only Maharashtra's Antulay has less votes. Hotel magnate. Mohan Singh that Sethi had said in all humility that he will resigned his Rajya Sabha seat. In fact. Oberoi, who was to get the party's surplus be a central minister only as long as Kamal indicating his insecurity. Uttar Pradesh votcs.was defeated. Nath wants him. Now things have changed. Vishwanath Pratap Singh has said that he Singh is not able to expand his 15- Shaky Positions: Daroga Prasad Rai. a would resign his Lok Sabha seat only at the member cabinet. He cannot afford to take former chief minister. is becoming the rally- end of the six-month grace period before the younger party MLAs for granted either. ing point of the dissidents in Bihar. He seeking election to the state legislature. They have numerical strength and if giving fired the first salvo against chier minister Meanwhile, lobbying in the states is them ministerial berths would alienate the Jagannath Mishra accusing him of packing centred around the posts of Pradesh Congress older men, not accommoda.ting them could the cabinet with upper caste cronies. (I) presidents which have to be filled up in in the long run spark off a revolt. In Maharashtra, A. R. Antulay finds seven states-Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Power Contenders: In Rajasthan. the Damocles sword of dissidence dangling Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana. Gujarat and Jagannath Pahadia has not been able to menacingly over his hcad. Sniggered a Punjab-where the incumbents have expand his eight-member cabinet. He could Maratha leader. whose community feels taken up ministerial jobs. It is going to be afford to leave out local Congress (I) veterans robbed of its throne: "Let's see how he no easy task to paper over the cracks when like Shiv Charan Mathur, Khet Singh and survives now." the scramble starts. Poonam Chand Vishnoi. all former ministers. In Andhra Pradesh. however. Chief For the time being at least at the national from his cabinet because of his support from Minister Clianna Reddy. who was facing a level. Mrs Gandhi has maintained a kind of the Centre. Now these senior partymen have revolt by the Sanjay-backed dissidents has .stcrrus q110 to keep the machinery running. grouped under former chief minister. Mohan managed to weather the storm lor the time But the concentration of powers in her Lal Sukhadia. todemand their pound of flesh. being and strengthen his position is'e box) hands-both governmental and organisa- Said a younger partyman morosely: Darbara Singh. the chief minister of tional-would make it imperative for her "There is no rirrr~di~~ionj. The old bandicoots Punjab who got the rize job despite Sanjay. to develop some method of sharing them. who had slunk away are beginnin," to roar has consolidated his position further in the Everyday she has to deal with at least 400 now." post-Sanjay scenario. Recently. in the elec- files on an average and there are pressing In Madhya Pradesh stalwarts like tion of the speaker he managed to get his national and international problems clam- V.