New Delhi, May 2: Arjun Singh should be thankful that Sonia Gandhi has not followed her political role models, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, in one respect. She did not build a whole new power structure in the party, or surround herself with fresh new faces, after becoming Congress president.
Perhaps Sonia’s sense of loyalty to her late mother-in-law and husband makes her reluctant to dump their advisers and loyalists — even when they may be past their sell-by date, and even when they flout party discipline.
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It’s to this that Arjun is indebted for his charmed life in the top echelons of the government and the Congress despite repeated shows of defiance, such as his recent outbursts after daughter Veena was denied a party ticket.
Then, sent to Madhya Pradesh to campaign for party candidates against their opponents — who included Veena, Independent candidate from Sidhi — Arjun stayed off electioneering because of “ill health”.
Party insiders say the real reason behind Arjun’s prolonged sulk is his banishment from Sonia’s closest circle.
Officially, nothing has changed in Arjun’s position in the past five years of UPA rule. The human resource development minister retains his membership of key panels such as the Congress Working Committee and the cabinet committee on political affairs. Politically, however, he finds himself isolated.
His well-wishers in the party feel he would be better off realising that his long and distinguished career is approaching an end, and that his ambition of again becoming the party leadership’s “eyes and ears” lies in the realm of fantasy.
They say Arjun, a Congress “insider” since the Jawaharlal Nehru era, should remember that the first Prime Minister’s political team had made a quiet exit after Indira took over. Indira had her own advisers, many of them with left-of-centre ideologies, who called the shots for over a decade. The Sanjay Gandhi era brought another set on the scene. By the time Rajiv became Prime Minister, most of the key Sanjay aides had gone, with a lucky handful squeezing into the new dispensation.
P.V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri had their own favourites. Kesri’s reliance on Tariq Anwar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmad Patel and Meira Kumar prompted Sharad Pawar to describe the team as “teen mian, ek Meira”.
Sonia, who became Congress president in 1998, however, chose to constitute her core team with a mix of people dating back to the Indira, Rajiv, Rao and Kesri eras. As a result, three family retainers — M.L. Fotedar, R.K. Dhawan and Vincent George — have been serving from the time of Indira till the present day.
Unlike Arjun, they have aged gracefully despite their fluctuating fortunes in party power equations. Fotedar is content with his status as the lone surviving witness to Indira’s will. His opinions are valued, and if the former bureaucrat has any grievances, he has hidden them well.
Of George’s several roles, the most important is to take the workload off the leader. Dozens of regional satraps arrive in Delhi every day, all seeking to meet Sonia and Rahul. A word to George, or a document left with him, is faithfully passed on to the leadership, often with results that satisfy the applicant.
Dhawan continues to have some political role, even if only as a “central observer” in states where party MLAs have to elect a chief minister or a legislative party leader. His sharp memory of favours granted and ability to tame potential mutineers keep him relevant to Congress politics.
Arjun, however, has let himself be seen as trying to cash his “loyalty” — a loyalty that has already earned him the posts of cabinet minister, governor and All India Congress Committee vice-president.
His well-wishers say he seems unable to understand that his usefulness in electoral politics has declined since the mid-1990s. Even his support base in Madhya Pradesh has shrunk so much that the party won just one of the 30 Assembly seats in his former stronghold, Rewanchal, last year.