Thursday, Aug 05, 2004
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News Analysis
By Harish Khare
NEW DELHI, AUG. 4. The Congress announced late last night that P. M. Sayeed and Janardhan Dwivedi would be its Rajya Sabha nominees from Delhi. The announcement closed the last possibility of the Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, M. L. Fotedar getting finally a Rajya Sabha berth. The announcement also deepened an enduring Congress mystery — a puzzle to the Congress leaders as also to the self-proclaimed "insiders" and media observers. The mystery is: why has Sonia Gandhi been so unwilling to give Mr. Fotedar a Rajya Sabha berth, whereas she has been all-too-willing to accommodate Congressmen of all hues, none of whom can match his unreserved and unrelenting loyalty to the family and its political interests? The question would not have been so baffling had it not been so ironic. As the all-powerful political secretary to Indira Gandhi, Mr. Fotedar was instrumental in "adjusting" a large number of "loyalists" as Governors, Rajya Sabha members, commission chairmen, etc. And, now the man himself cannot get into the Upper House.
Declined governorship
To be fair, Mr. Fotedar was offered a governorship and he declined. His thinking was that he was a "political person" and that he was not prepared to retire to a Raj Bhavan. He wanted to be in New Delhi; a wish Ms. Gandhi would not grant him. He was recently included in the Congress Working Committee, one of the 40-odd members. No one has been able to crack the mystery of Ms. Gandhi's unwillingness. It is not that she is unfamiliar with the fact that Mr. Fotedar was a watchful guardian of Rajiv Gandhi's interests before, during and after his prime ministerial innings. After Rajiv's death, he earnestly took up Ms. Gandhi's cause. He continued to be a vigilant planner on her behalf. In 1991, he authored the stratagem to have her first anointed as the Congress president and then letting her decline the Congress Working Committee offer. In August 1997, he choreographed Ms. Gandhi's appearance and "spontaneous" demonstrations of affection for her at the Calcutta plenary session; in 1998, he was the chief strategist in installing Ms. Gandhi as the party chief in the place of an elected president; and, in 1999, he was in the thick of things in mobilising the pro-Sonia forces against Messrs Sharad Pawar and P.A. Sangma. But despite all this impressive record of crucial usefulness, Ms. Gandhi has not accommodated Mr. Fotedar in the Rajya Sabha. What is more mystifying is that she herself is known to have consulted him in almost all crucial decisions — be it her December 27, 1997 decision to unilaterally announce that she would campaign for the Congress; or, be it the decision to allow Mufti Mohammed Sayeed to form the Government in Jammu and Kashmir; or, more recently, be it her decision not to accept the prime ministerial job. Yet when it comes to accommodating Mr. Fotedar in the Rajya Sabha, Ms. Gandhi has shown an inexplicable reluctance. And this is against the family's own tradition and record that the follower must be granted his wish.
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