JRRENT EVEN: Mrs Gandhi greets her partymen: searching questions Tlection Exercise Subhash Yadav, a Lok Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, said: "Those who serious- -T LOOKED like an employment ex- Pranab Mukhejee about the party's pro- ly followed the high command's directive did change-only on a much larger scale. At spects in Medak, while P. Shiv Shankar not face any problem. The idea was to make A -the convention of Congress(I) MP'S and questioned Rajiv about Amethi. the high command aware of the problems of state legislators-the &st of its kind-last Earlier, Mrs Gandhi had set up fibe each constituency." fortnight, over 3,000 worriedmen huddled in high-powered zonal committees to assess the The panel members did not accept the ten se groups waiting for a 15-minute inter- legislators' reports. The committees, headed reports at face value. To cross-check claims view. Inside the four rectangular halls at the by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Ex- made by MP'S,they invited each MLA~~O~the sprawling Asian Games complex, 50 senior ternal Affairs Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, parliamentary constituency to give their ver- party leaders, including a dozen-odd Union Commerce Minister Vishwanath Pratap sions of the political scenario. While MLA'S ministers, perused 3,000 files containing Singh, Energy Minister P. Shiv Shankar and and MP'S were being interviewed, state chief 0,000 papers. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Buta Singh, ministers were asked to wait in a separate After the threeday jamboree, the 17 were given a brief to "look into the organisa- room for consultations on important issues. :ongress(l) chief ministers, 360 MP'S and tional and political situation of the states". If the nature of the questions (see box) -000 MLA'S and MLC'S returned to their re-_ Some prominent Rajya Sabha mem- was any indication, the real purpose of the mctive homes somewhat unsure of their po- bers, state level leaders and Union ministers jamboree was to assess the electoral pro- :a1 future. But in New Delhi, their leaders were asked to help with preliminary studies spects in each of the 542 Lok Sabha consti- re jubilant. G.K. Moopanar, AICCO gene- and they sent individual reports on the legis- tuencies and gauge the extent of dissidence. -. secretary, said: "The feedback from elec- lators to the AICC~I,headquarters. After scree- The party, it seems, is not banking on Mrs ; :d representatives has helped the party lea- ning all these reports, the zonal chiefs, assis- Gandhi's charisma to carry it through the ership in getting a first-hand assessment of ted by some others, began the cross-exami- next elections. he performance of the Congress@)govern- nations. The five zonal committees were split The coming polls will be won by indivi- nents in various states,the shortcomings of up into 25 sub-panels and each of them spe@ dual candidates in their own right. The high. he Opposition and the extent of the Con- over 14 hours daily interviewing at least a command is therefore concerned, more than ress(1)'s popularity." hundred people. ever before, about the personal image and The New Delhi convention was the Before the session began, Mrs Gandhi capacity of each candidate. The entire exer- grand &ale to the mass contact drive laun- unfurled the Congress@)flag and spoke for cise, as one leader admitted, was aimed at ched after the Calcutta session of the party. 35 minutes in Hindi and 15 minutes in En- screening present parliamentarians to mark In her concluding address, the party's Presi- glish on, among other things, the Opposition out possible losers as well as search for likely dent, Mrs Gandhi, had directed all MP'S challenge and the need for unity. Thus she set replacements. The other major concern of MUi's, MLC'S and PCW office-bearers to go to , the tone for the panels to begin their task of the high command was to measure dissiden- the grass roots and address a minimum preparing a report on the current political si- ce and explore steps to contain it. nu1nber of public meetings (INDIA TODAY, tuation for her. Over 100 MLA'S from Uttar Pradesh, led Japluau 31). While the panel chiefs took to their one- by R.K.Bhargawa, made a concerted move Apparently, the only exception was Mrs rous task with a will, the participants too against Chief Minister Sripat Misra. While Gandhi, who could not visit Medak, her con- were fully prepared. They had brought along Bhargawa refused to divulge his charges stituency in Andhra Pradesh, owing to newspaper clippings, copies of their corre- against Misra, his colleagues maintained re occupations in New Delhi. At the con- spondence with state authorities and records that the Congress(1) would suffer a humi- tio on, however, she was interviewed by of their tours to buttress their earlier reports. liating defeat if Misra continued in office. In +R INDIA TODAY, MARCH 31, 1984 a similar vein, four MLA'S from Rajasthan was their personal problem." The choice of speakers was interesting. spoke against their Chief Minister, Shiv If the legislators' reports on Opposition S.M. Krishna, Union minister of state for fi- Charan Mathur, and the growing corruption prospects are any indication, the Congress(I) nance, spoke on human rights and Y.B. Cha- in the state. is in for a landslide victory. Since the MP'S evi- van—who .left South Block a decade Among the participants from Maha- dently thought that adverse reports would go ago—enlightened the delegates on the inter- rashtra, there wa.s a deep rift between the against them, each of them painted a rosy national situation. Bali Ram Bhagat, former pro-chief minister and pro-Antulay lobbies. picture of his or her area. Lok Sabha speaker, was listed to deal with Indeed, there was hardly a state whose legis- While MLA'S from Andhra Pradesh and South Asia while Dinesh Singh, former fo- lators did not complain either against each Tamil Nadu firmly held that the charismatic reign minister, was chosen to speak on deve- other or their chief minister. The internecine appeal of both N.T. Rama Rao and MGR loping countries. No more than 200 people hatred ran so deep that the attempt to lodge was on the wane, MLA'S from Uttar Pradesh were ever present for the lectures. An MLA MLA'S in MP'S houses and flats was met with did not consider Maneka Gandhi's fledgling from Uttar Pradesh said: "Who is interested stubborn non-cooperation. Sanjay Vichar Manch (SVM) worth worrying in these lectures when our own political ca- about. An MLA from Sultanpur district stated reers are at stake? We would rather spend OME MLA'S from Kanpur, for exam- in his report that the "SVM has some influence time outside with leaders who matter, to ple, were asked to stay with Arif in the district because our own party workers ensure our seats." SMohammed Khan, Union minister of are supporting them. Otherwise she will not To ensure a seat was of course on every state for agriculture, but they preferred to win a single seat from the district." The mind. As the participants returned home share rooms with three others in the Uttar report on party prospects was obviously with fingers hopefully crossed, the zonal Pradesh Bhavan. Finally, hardly 100 MLA'S meant for Rajiv Gandhi. chiefs sat down with their aides to prepare a stayed with MP'S. Even chief ministers and The convention was not meant only for comprehensive report. This is by no means other ministers took rooms in five-star questioning the legislators. Besides exhibi- an easy task. After 50 hours of interviews, a hotels. Jagdish Tytler, who was in charge of tions depicting the Congress(I)'s history and cabinet minister ruefully admitted: "I now the accommodation, said: "We had made its role in the freedom struggle, they were have a thousand more files to dispose of and arrangements at all the Congress(I) MP'S hou- treated to 12 lectures delivered on various solve the political puzzle. I wish I had the bu- ses. If some of them did not go there, it political subjects. reucrats to solve this too.'1—PRABHU CHAWLA INTERVIEWS t* Do you get cooperation of the admi- ^ What are our main talking points nistrative set-up in your constituency: "if against the Opposition and their perfor- not, are they (officers) politically motiva- mance which could be used by the Con- Talking Point ted, opposed to Congress(I) or commit- gress® in the constituency? HE 50-odd questions put to each ted to any opposition party or parties? '>• How is the self-employment scheme of 3,000 Congress(I) MP'S and ^- Which are the main opposition par- announced by the prime minister on TMLA'S were designed to assess indi- ties in your constituency? August 15, 1983, functioning in your vidual performance and the party's poll ^- Do you find any possibility of all constituency? prospects in the parliamentary election. parties setting up a common candidate > Has the Congress(I) got the political The questions were framed by five zonal against the Congress(I)? benefit of the programme; if not, what committees—each headed by a cabinet ^ In case of opposition unity, do you are the reasons? minister—after extensive talks with party also see the possibility of local workers of ^ What is - your general assessment functionaries like Mrs Gandhi and Rajiv these parties working together to defeat about your constituency as regards Con- Gandhi.