Sonia tells rival UP leaders to patch up

With internal wranglings overtaking the high-voltage Congress campaign against UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the party has got down...

With internal wranglings overtaking the high-voltage Congress campaign against UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the party has got down to the basics — setting its own house in order in the state.

Sources in Delhi said today that Congress President Sonia Gandhi summoned both AICC General Secretary Satyavrat Chaturvedi and UP Congress President Salman Khursheed last week and told them to patch up their differences. Sonia’s two trusted aides —— her political secretary Ahmed Patel and AICC general secretary Ambika Soni —— representing rival factions in the party —— were present at the meeting, lasting two hours. Khursheed is known for his proximity to Soni.

Earlier, AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had intervened at Khursheed’s behest to work out a compromise between the two, but their differences persisted.

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The differences between the two leaders primarily emanate from Chaturvedi’s ability and inclination to operate on his own in the state, rather than depend on Khursheed. This made Khurshid highly uncomfortable.

Along side, Khursheed had to contend with the hostility of four Lok Sabha members —— Bijendra Singh (Aligarh), Manvendra Singh (Mathura), Rajesh Kumar Mishra (Varanasi) and Surendra Prakash Goyal (Ghaziabad) —— who had complained to Sonia against his style of functioning.

Though Chaturvedi hails from the Khajuraho area of Madhya Pradesh, his family is originally rooted in UP. This enables him to vibe effectively with people at the grassroots. And when Chaturvedi started addressing public meetings, sources said, Khursheed began to feel uncomfortable.

‘‘Just because he can speak the local lingo, it does not mean that he should get in to state politics,’’ sources close to Khursheed argued, pointing out that Khursheed, when he was AICC general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu, would not have done the same.

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Both have differed on both the organisation and programmes, including the much-touted regional orientation programmes for workers. The sources said Sonia gave Khursheed the green signal to carry out his programmes without interference.

The four MPs were cut up with Khursheed for his alleged tendency to by-pass them and promote their detractors in their constituencies. They also alleged that Khursheed visited their areas without informing them. The sources said Khursheed has since won over at least two of the four MPs — Bijendra Singh and Goyal — since then. Goyal even played host to him over dinner last night.