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Congress anger at PK is waiting to be directed against Rahul Gandhi

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Swati Chaturvedi
Swati ChaturvediNov 08, 2016 | 15:54

Congress anger at PK is waiting to be directed against Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi finally had to play along with the script carefully orchestrated by his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and carried out by her most trusted aide, the durable AK Antony, on Monday.

In a historic first, the entire Congress Working Committee (CWC) sans the "indisposed" Sonia "unanimously requested Rahul Gandhi to take over". Gandhi acceded to their request.

This rare display of political smarts served a dual purpose.

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1) Delinks Gandhi's elevation from the hotly contested Uttar Pradesh election results. Ensures that the longest serving president of the party, Sonia, continues in office with Gandhi taking over whenever he wants.

2) With predictions of his impending ascent doing the rounds every three months, the hoopla over Gandhi's actual elevation would have led to familiar ridicule, with the prospect barely provoking a yawn anymore - hence the quiet "surgical strike" choreographed to perfection.

The actual takeaway from the CWC was not Gandhi's elevation, which has been a foregone conclusion in the party, but the feral attacks on high-profile election strategist Prashant Kishor led by UP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Sources say Kishor's dalliance with Amar Singh was the last straw for senior Congress leaders chafing at his high public profile and attitude. Singh seems to have lived up to his billing of being a serial wrecker, breaking up Kishor and the Congress.

Azad is believed to have told Gandhi bluntly that "PK was trying to acquire a political role for which he had not been signed up. The dramatic meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh in tow, was a terrible signal."

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Azad said "even if a alliance with the SP is on the cards, Gandhi needed to only pick up the phone with CM Akhilesh Yadav. If an alliance was the purpose, why was PK alienating Yadav Junior by making Amar Singh the go-between"?

Livid at Kishor involving Singh, Yadav Junior refused to meet him despite Kishor camping in Lucknow till Lalu Prasad pulled rank and ensured an appointment. Earlier, Yadav Senior in his meeting with Kishor seemed clueless about his role and asked him several times "what do you do"?

After Azad spoke, other CWC members also erupted, including the blunt Ambika Soni who said that "PK had added no value in Punjab and was busy projecting himself rather than the Congress".

Sources say that from octogenarian Congress treasurer Moti Lal Vora, Azad, Captain Amarinder Singh, Shiela Dikshit and Raj Babbar - virtually the entire Team Congress - Kishor has managed to alienate everyone.

When Vora questioned his accounts and refused to sanction exorbitant bills, Kishor went running to Gandhi who said he could not help. Then came the debacle of Sonia's fracture in the road show organised by Kishor in Modi's constituency of Varanasi. Top leaders blamed him for that vehemently. Sonia has still not recovered from the accident.

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In Punjab, Amarinder Singh has had public spats with Kishor and since October 20, the Singh campaign team has been on an extended Diwali break. More leisurely Patiala style royalty then a battle-ready campaign, no one in the Congress knows why Amarinder is on a break. Is it because of PK or the party's parleys with Sidhu?

Punjab was a state where Congress was still in with a chance, but Gandhi preferred to follow PK's advice and do the "khat yatra" in UP, says a CWC member wryly - "khat bhi chori hui aur vote bhi nahi mila" (we lost the cots and gained no votes).

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The anger at Prashant Kishor (right) is actually waiting to be directed against Rahul Gandhi.

Following the Kishor line, Shiela Dikshit was pulled out of semi-retirement and projected as "UP ki Brahmin bahu". With new talk of "mahagathbandhan", what happens to the Congress's UP CM face?

Even a bemused Dikshit has no answers. Says a Dikshit aide: "Kishor's slogan was '27 saal UP behaal', now we will have a tie up with the same people who made UP behaal. The only party this will help is the BJP as Mayawati (BSP chief) will not come on board. And Amar Singh, who is best friends with the BJP."

Meanwhile, Sandeep Dikshit took on all those who abused his mother, tweeting on Monday: "Wonder what Maken/Lovely/Naseeb who shower Shielaji daily with choicest abuses will do after Rahul Gandhi praised her? A son wonders."

Considering Ajay Maken is perceived to be extremely close to Gandhi, the big fight in the Congress was out in the open.

So while the CWC was a show of total unity behind Gandhi, the reality in the Congress is different. State units are fighting and Gandhi and his team of aides are unable to get a grip. The anger at PK is actually waiting to be directed against Gandhi.

CWC leaders say Kishor's media exertions on Priyanka Gandhi were also disliked by Sonia. As of now, Priyanka is too astute to link herself to a floundering election campaign.

After the CWC rap, Kishor's outfit issued a clarification saying he was doing only courtesy calls on SP leaders. But with the strategist making the headlines sans mandate, it will soon be curtains for Kishor. Sources say it will be a race between the party and PK to find a fall guy.

Last updated: November 09, 2016 | 15:00
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