Annual convention of Congress(S) showed all the razzamatazz of a glittering ball

Congress(S) leaders confer: Emasculated organisationIt may have been the party's most satisfying annual political congregation. All the ingredients of a successful show were there: more speeches, more people, more issues to be debated, and more applause for the newly-elected youngest-ever president.Held at Bombay's Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan badminton court, renamed Munshinagar for the occasion, the two-day annual convention of the All India Congress Committee (Socialist) showed nearly all the razzamatazz of a glittering ball. The netas were put up at five-star hotels and the 532 delegates were served nourishing three course meals.Still, something was missing in it. The 20-hour-long deliberation on the political, economic and international situation, which was often marked by impassioned oratory, could not conceal an undertow of tension. Said a rather worried Sharad Pawar, 40, whose election as president was confirmed unanimously: "Everything depends on how we function in the future."Chequered Past: Pawar's reliance on the future was set off against his party's chequered past. In the last three years, it lost power at the Centre and in the two states of Maharashtra and Kerala. The party split thrice since 1978, when Mrs Gandhi waked out with a few leaders but most of the workers.Later, the party faced more humiliation as its stalwarts crossed over to the Congress(I) in droves, and the Election Commission deprived it of its symbol and name. And, before it could wobble again in the ring, national figures like Jagjivan Ram, Y.B. Chavan, K.C. Pant, Karan Singh and Swaran Singh bade good-bye.Left to its bare bones - and quite thin ones at that - the party was clearly reduced to a loose assembly of regional leaders such as A.K. Antony of Kerala, Devaraj Urs of Karnataka and Sharad Pawar of Maharashtra.The Working Committee meeting, revealed that even these regional satraps are divided on the question of alliance with Congress(I). For some of them, faced as they are with the prospect of a political oblivion, salvation lay in an alliance with Congress(I).To others, Congress(I) was wormwood for two different reasons; some of them like K.P. Unnikrishnan, Rajni Patel and Ambika Soni had burnt their boats while leaving Mrs Gandhi's company, while others - comprising a miniscule fringe - could still wait because they had somehow managed to retain their support base.For the most part, the conference restricted itself to routine resolutions. The confusion came to the fore only at the tail end of the plenary session, after the working committee had resolved to shun any alliance with the ruling Congress(I).Suddenly, Tulsi Dasappa, a former Urs protege and treasurer of the party, moved an amendment before an almost empty auditorium. The amendment, which was eventually carried, added to the "no alliance" clause of the working committees' resolution the catch-all rider: "unless the Congress Working Committee (Socialist) decides otherwise in the national interest".The amendment came as coup de grace for hardliners like K. P. Unnikrishnan, Rajni Patel and Ambika Soni whose hostility towards the Congress(I) - and vice-versa - would oblige them to find a new pasture just in case an alliance materialised.The hardlines in the party obviously overtaken by the speed of events in Kerala, where the party had recently been shepherded out of the Marxist-led Left Democratic Front by Antony, were unable to oppose the resolution.Visibly traumatised, Rajni Patel said: "The decision taken by the Kerala unit was unfortunate, but the party was left with no choice as the Marxists were overtaken by their own arrogance." But he added, "The CPI-M is our friend and not our enemy."Two days after the conference, Pawar was beaming the same friendly signal towards the CPI-M, announcing that the door-to-door negotiations with the Marxists were not close for ever.The party's political resolutions were but routine attacks on Mrs Gandhi and her policies. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, who moved the economic resolution, hit out at the Government for stepping up exports and giving in to the designs of the multinationals. It was all wrapped up in the familiar Congress(S) litany that Jawaharlal Nehru was good but Mrs Gandhi is bad.The attraction of an alliance with the Congress(I), however, weighed heavily on men like Antony and Dasmunshi, who, at some stages of their lives, had led violent struggles against the Marxists in their states. To men like Pawar, who retained individual popularity or men like Urs who have moved way past their political prime, the lure of the Congress (I) was hardly enticing.But for others, Dasappa's one-sentence amendment came as a relief to most in the party who were wiser after seeing the rapid erosion of their bases. The sight of Y.B. Chavan still dangling in limbo served as a reminder of the dangers of trying to bargain their way individually into the Congress(I). With all these considerations the advantages of leaving their options open was clearly too great for most delegates to resist.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 28, 2013 10:25 IST--- ENDS ---

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Annual convention of Congress(S) showed all the razzamatazz of a glittering ball

Held at Bombay's Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan badminton court, renamed Munshinagar for the occasion, the two-day annual convention of the All India Congress Committee (Socialist) showed nearly all the razzamatazz of a glittering ball.

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