Congress support for Kalyan puts Kesri in acute discomfort

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The decision of 19 Congress MLAs to break away and support the Bharatiya Janata Party government has come as a grave setback to party president Sitaram Kesri.

There was considerable confusion in Congress circles after the news broke. Neither Kesri nor vice-president Jitendra Prasada were available for comment, to throw any light on the developments. A Congress official, however, said the newly-appointed UP party president, N D Tewari, had denied the defection of 19 MLAs. He simultaneously added that some Congress workers were saying the UP assembly speaker had given recognition to the breakaway Congress group.

Earlier, Kesri had a telephone conversation with UP Congress leader Pramod Tewari after the Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew support to the Kalyan Singh government. Kesri had urged him to take preventive measures to prevent any Congress MLA from supporting Kalyan Singh's government. He had also urged N D Tewari to rush to Lucknow and ensure that no Congress MLA supported the BJP government.

The formation of a separate group by the defiant Congress MLAs comes as a grave challenge to N D Tewari, who was appointed with the intention of clipping Jitendra Prasada's wings. Before Tewari took over as chief of the UP Congress unit, Prasada virtually held sway in the state.

Prasada had earlier dared the party high command to settle the dispute on the choice of the UP party chief by holding an election. This apparently antagonised Kesri who subsequently appointed Tewari to the crucial post.

While it is not yet clear who inspired the split in UP, AICC officials loyal to Kesri say that Prasada's likely role in the matter should be closely scrutinised.

Ever since the Sultanpur incident, where Prasada's supporters roughed up Kesri, the two Congress leaders have been drifting apart. There is apprehension in Congress circles that the party vice-president might have given tacit support to the 19 MLAs out of sheer pique against Kesri. The charge, if true, could lead the Congress president and vice-president on the road to bitter rivalry.