The Hindu : Sonia sets up panel on Rajasthan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 28, 2002

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Sonia sets up panel on Rajasthan

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI Dec. 27. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has set up a high-powered four- member committee to help prepare the party for the Assembly elections in Rajasthan. Headed by the AICC secretary-general in-charge of the State, Ambica Soni, the committee comprises Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shiv Shankar.

The committee is expected to visit Rajasthan next week to make an "assessment'' and determine whether a change in leadership is desirable or not. Simultaneously, Ms. Soni is likely to hold two "workers conventions'' to get a first-hand feedback from the party workers.

Concerned over the possibility of the "Gujarat factor'' having an adverse impact on the party's fortunes in the Rajasthan, several senior Congress members, including MPs, called on Ms. Gandhi.

They are reported to have impressed upon her the need to change the Chief Minister and the PCC chief.

The loss of the three Assembly seats of Bansur, Sangwara and Bali in the just-concluded byelections, is symptomatic of the steady decline of the party's fortunes. The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot's "lacklustre style," and his inability to win over the upper castes, especially the Jats, are cited as major shortcomings that the party has to contend with, in addition to the PCC chief's apparent inability to fire up the organisation.

There is growing concern in the party ranks about the ability or the lack of it, of the Gehlot-Girija Vyas combine to counter the strong anti-incumbency factor and the aggressive Hindutva campaign of the BJP.

Though the high command is yet to take a decision, there is a sizeable section in the Congress which believes that the party must change both the Chief Minister as well as the PCC chief.

"Drastic situations call for drastic measures, we must make a double change'' says a senior Minister in the State Government.

Several senior leaders and MPs from the State believe that a change must ensure that the Congress gets the social combination right — Mr. Gehlot's replacement must be a Jat, while the party must find a new PCC chief from within the Brahmin community.

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Sonia sets up panel on Rajasthan