Cong polls draw first blood

The campaign against Kesri gathered momentum when former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and MPs S S Ahluwalia and Gyan Ranjan today joined the growing ranks of Congressmen from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana who staged a day-long dharna in front of the AICC headquarters against “rampant irregularities” in the party’s organisational elections.

Mishra alleged that the party elections in Bihar had been “totally rigged” and demanded scrapping of current elections and setting up of a high-level committee to supervise fresh ones.

After he filed his papers, Antulay said his main objective was not to allow Kesri grab the party presidentship without contest. `’I will withdraw if either Sharad Pawar or Rajesh Pilot decides to oppose Kesri,’ he said.

Both Pawar and Pilot went to the AICC office to meet Congress dissidents on hunger strike against the Kesri group’s manipulations, obviously to fish in the troubled waters.

While Pilot has already announced his candidature, Pawar is still waiting and watching before jumping in the race. Madhya Pradesh leader V C Shukla, also visited AICC office and met the protesters.

Mishra’s decision to sit on a hunger strike was a clear indication that the supporters of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao have decided to oppose Kesri in the organisational elections. It may be recalled that another Rao loyalist, Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao was persuaded give up his hunger strike last week with an assurance that his grievances would be looked into. Hanumantha Rao as well as other dissidents in Andhra Pradesh including former PCC chief K Rossaiah, have accused Kesri of colluding with K Vijayabhaskara Reddy in the conduct of bogus elections.

In Madhya Pradesh supporters of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and former Union Minister V C Shukla are up in arms against alleged attempts by Arjun Singh and Madhavrao Scindia to capture the organisation. The state PCC chief Parasram Bharadwaj has also described the organisational elections as `a farce.’

In Tamil Nadu K Ramamurthy Kumari Ananthan camps have challenged the elections held under the current PCC chief K V Thangkabalu and held parallel elections, while in Uttar Pradesh PCC chief Jitendra Prasada has been accused of manipulating election of PCC members and AICC members.

Govt delaying action on Cong donations case, says petitioner

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Congress president Sitaram Kesri to file, by this evening, his reply to the allegation that as treasurer of the party during 1993-95 he had received Rs 3.75 crore foreign donations in violation of Section IV of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) which prevents political parties from receiving any foreign contributions.

A division bench comprising acting chief justice Mahinder Narain and justice S K Mahajan, today, issued notice to the Congress separately on it being impleaded as a party in the case and fixed July 15 for further hearing of the matter.

The bench was informed by additional solicitor general, Abhisek Manu Singhvi, that the Congress party had filed its reply with the FCRA wing on the alleged violations of FCRA on the last date of the deadline of May 24 set earlier.

Singhvi said the FCRA cell would take some time to study the reply filed by the party and take suitable action as per law.

Counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for petitioner Madhuresh, a freelance journalist, however charged the government with “wasting time” and said that action should be immediately initiated against the Congress for receiving the foreign contributions.

According to the home ministry, the Congress had, between 1993 and 1995, received foreign contributions from several sources for varying amounts.The drafts were drawn on the Indian Bank, Singapore.