Ahluwalia in the dock for press leak

The notice apparently asks Ahluwalia to explain how his letter, to party president Sonia Gandhi, criticising the party policy, was leaked to the media against the party’s code of conduct which bars any member from criticising the party policy and specifically not to use the media for this purpose.

Ahluwalia is thus being held guilty on two counts. The episode has been blown out of proportion and now seems to be taking on a serious turn dividing theparty, once again, into pro and anti-Laloo groups. Ahluwalia had said the party’s line in backing Laloo will hurt the interests of the party and is believed to have held some “Laloo loyalists” in the Congress guilty for “misleading” Sonia .

However, it appears that Ahluwalia was prepared for the showcause notice. He is understood to have already written a second letter to Sonia on October 6 explaining that he had no hand in leaking his letter to the media. Ahluwalia is understood to have alleged that the letter was leaked from the Congress president’s office. The former minister is reported to have added that he had not said anything to the media on record nor had he held any press conference on the issue.

The showcause notice is thus being sent after an explanation has already been given by Ahluwalia. The basic problem in the Ahluwalia episode is that his criticism is being backed by a section of the Congress which sees Laloo and his RJD as an impediment to the revival of the Congress in Bihar.However, another section, led by former party president Sitaram Kesri, is solidly pro-Laloo. Even Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar are understood to have taken Laloo’s side in the last few weeks.

This division in party leadership is reflected in the workers and the Bihar MLAs too with 13 of the 29 Bihar Congress MLAs having gone against the party line on the Jharkhand issue. That didn’t matter much as the Congress high command had already asked MLAs to go by their conscience on the Jharkhand issue.

In the recent past, Sonia had cleared showcause notices to 11 Maharashtra MLAs and one MP, Praful Patel, for the loss of her nominee R D Pradhan in the last round of elections to the Rajya Sabha. In the end, action was dropped against 10 MLAs and Patel was also let off.

In the Ahluwalia case, it remains to be seen how things take shape. Meanwhile, the Congress is understood to have appointed former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil as chairman of the party’s media cell. He is henceforth to be incharge ofinteracting with the media.

Also, Sonia is slated to visit Haryana on October 12. She will visit Narwana, in Jind district, and address party workers at Rohtak the same day.