Anita Katyal | Yogi Left To Face Ayodhya Music... Will Venugopal Be Next Cong Prez?

The large-scale theft of donations at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has predictably dominated newspaper headlines and has been the subject of animated debates on television news channels. Reactions expressing anger and disbelief have been pouring in while political parties, especially the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, have been seeking accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he had handpicked the members of the trust which manages the Ram Mandir. Even as accusations and allegations are flying thick and fast, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s top brass has maintained a studied silence on this burning issue. That there has been no word from Mr Modi or any other senior party leader appears surprising since the Ram Mandir movement was at the heart of BJP’s agenda and the construction of the temple was touted as the party’s biggest achievement. However, BJP insiders maintain the party’s response, or rather lack of it, is actually a well-thought-out strategy to keep Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the spotlight through the raging controversy. While everyone else has deliberately taken a backseat, Yogi has been left to respond to questions about enquiries, FIRs and arrests. Incidentally, this decision to remain silent is also being viewed as a fall-out of the known tensions between Yogi and home minister Amit Shah. Another theory is that the “chanda chori” campaign is being conveniently used to put Yogi down as he is seen as a possible future prime ministerial contender along with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

When the media splashed reports about an alleged land scam involving Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav’s extended family, it was expected that the Opposition would hit the streets and run a full-scale campaign on this issue. But from all accounts, the Congress has failed to do so. The state Congress chief Jitu Patwari did hold a press conference demanding Mr Yadav’s resignation and a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge while the Congress Party’s Delhi office has held a few press briefings on the subject. But the Congress has been unsuccessful in pinning down Mr Yadav. Instead, the Congress state unit has got caught up in factional battles. A few state Congress leaders, including former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, even sought to play down the controversy by going soft on the chief minister. Reports from Madhya Pradesh suggest that the growing discontent with Mr Patwari has stymied efforts to mount a campaign against the chief minister. A section of the state unit is convinced that Mr Patwari’s press conference was nothing more than an act as he is known to be on friendly terms with the chief minister. Patwari’s camp followers, however, charge that Digvijaya Singh is not allowing the party’s campaign to pick up speed. As a result, a divided Congress is busy waging war against its own instead of putting up a joint fight against Mohan Yadav.

After a series of meetings, the Congress finally unveiled the party’s election-related committees for Punjab last week. There had been considerable chatter when these discussions were underway that former chief minister and the party’s well-known Dalit face Charanjit Singh Channi would replace Amrinder Singh Raja Waring as the president of the party’s state unit. As these reports gained traction, there was a major revolt in the party with many leaders going into sulk mode while others openly threatened that they would not contest next year’s assembly polls if Mr Channi was given charge of Punjab Congress. These threats posed a big problem for the Congress leadership which held as many as eight rounds of meetings to discuss the organisational structure for assembly polls. It is clear from the final announcement that the threats worked as Waring has been retained as Punjab Congress chief while Pratap Singh Bajwa is to continue as leader of opposition. Mr Channi has been given charge of the campaign committee. The effort here has been to accommodate all the main players but, in the process, the Congress has also created some confusion about its chief ministerial face as Waring, Mr Bajwa and Mr Channi all see themselves as contenders for the top job.

Each time the Congress organises any public meeting, the posters and billboards adorning the stage or plastered across the venue, feature photographs of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and could even include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Lately, it has been noticed by many party leaders that another photo is being increasingly featured in the publicity material for a party programme. The new face is none other than of the all-powerful K.C. Venugopal, Congress general secretary in charge of organisation and more importantly, known to be close to Rahul Gandhi. This is a clear signal that despite all the complaints about him, Mr Venugopal’s stars are on the ascendant. Congress insiders maintain they will not be surprised if Mr Venugopal is projected as the next party president when Mr Kharge completes his tenure.