RAISINA HILL (SEPTEMBER)

Amitabh Shukla

Diary from the seat of power

Singhvi

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the high-profile Congress spokesperson has been restrained from holding press briefings on behalf of the party, an act which is being seen as a setback for the Rajya Sabha member. His decision to represent a lottery company in Kerala High Court has not gone down well with the party unit in the state which is fighting a political battle against the CPI(M) in the state on the contentious issue.

The appearance of Singhvi, who is an eminent lawyer, in the High Court had raised a storm in the Kerala unit which had launched a campaign against promoters of lotteries from outside the state and senior state Congress leaders had complained to AICC over his action. Singhvi, who is also the Chairman of the AICC’s Legal and Human Rights Department, had earlier maintained that he was appearing for the Government of Bhutan in support of a Central government enactment and regulation of 2010 and it had nothing to do with politics. Later he announced his decision to withdraw from the case to avoid any controversy.

The ruling Left Democratic Front had seized the issue as a weapon to strike back at the Congress-led United Democratic Front which has taken the lotteries as one of the major issues in the campaign for civic polls this month.

As the Congress is left with one spokesperson short, the party has made it a practice to cancel the regular media briefings quite frequently. But the buzz in party circles is that Singhvi will spring back into the centre stage sooner than later as he is considered close to party President Sonia Gandhi. He had organized a convention of lawyers sometime back in Delhi in which both Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had participated which had increased his clout in the party.

Antony

Defence Minister A K Antony has blamed kickback scandals for the delays in procurement of military equipment and said the Armed Forces has lost 20 years as a result of the past controversies. The statement has stirred the hornet’s nest as people are questioning why the system could not be rectified earlier. "There are a lot of non-military persons who are concerned over the lack of equipment for our armed forces. But they should not forget the past controversies in defence procurements from 1980s to 1990s that engulfed the governments. As a result, we lost 20 years," Antony said addressing senior armed forces personnel in New Delhi. At the same time, he assured them that the government was trying to change the situation now through its defence production policy that was aimed at curbing corruption in defence deals.

Officials say the problems started after the Bofors kickback controversy in which the then government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was under the scanner. Even as the ghosts of Bofors have been buried, the realization has taken over 20 years, pushing the defence preparedness to some extent. People hope that this is rectified at the earliest.

Rahul Gandhi

An intense war of words took place between BJP and the Congress after Rahul Gandhi equated RSS with the banned SIMI and painted them with the same brush during his visit to Madhya Pradesh. He said both the organizations preached hardline fundamentalist ideologies. This evoked sharp reactions from the RSS and the BJP.

Incensed over being equated with SIMI, RSS hit out at Rahul saying he needs to learn more about the country before making such meaningless statements. RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said Rahul should brush up his knowledge before making meaningless statements and should know the difference between RSS and banned outfits and know the history of Congress party, which has been accused of fundamentalism in the last six decades. The reaction of the BJP was sharper with the party with the party saying the young Congress leader seems to have lost his mental balance and shown his political immaturity by his comments.

"Only a sick mind can do it (compare RSS to SIMI). He seems to have lost his mental balance. RSS is an institution of nationalist thought while SIMI has been banned by their (Congress) government as it was banned by us when we were in power," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar reacted .

After the BJP’s sharp reaction, Congress hit back with General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi saying BJP's reaction on Gandhi's statement seems to be an outburst of an organisation having a "guilty conscience" and charged that its leaders do not have the "moral courage to accept the sins of their partymen and associates".

Even as charges and countercharges flew, senior party leaders said there should have been more restraint from both sides. “This is not the way political discourse takes place,” a Congress leader quipped.

Karnataka

The political drama in BJP-ruled Karnataka never refuses to end. From one political upheaval to the other, little time is left for governance. While the Reddy brothers call the shots sometime, they remain in the background on other occasions and control the political proceedings. No one for sure knows what is happening in the state which is the only one in south India ruled by the BJP. But the Congress says that the drama has been engineered by the BJP itself to keep away the focus from corruption which has dogged the government for months. “We have nothing to do with the crisis. We are not in the race to form the alternative government. We are amused. Waiting what the BJP can do to cripple itself in the state,” a Congress leader remarked on the developments. The latest crisis in the state arose after 20 MLAs -- 15 of the ruling BJP and five independents -- submitted a letter to state Governor H R Bhardwaj declaring withdrawal of support to the state government led by B S Yeddyurappa.

Bihar BJP

The crisis in the Bihar BJP in the wake of the resignation of the state unit President C P Thakur and then his decision to take it back has only sharpened the knives amongst the BJP leaders in the state. The section, led by Thakur wants the other section of the party led by Sushil Modi down and out. While Modi is an OBC, the upper caste leaders led by Thakur are saying that though the party wins with the support of the upper castes, it is having OBC leaders at the helm. Whatever the reason, the bickering on the eve of the assembly elections has not gone down well with the cadres who are finding it difficult to explain to the electorate the reasons for this mutual distrust.

(7.10.2010)