Sitaram Kesri
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A brief biography
In the year 2000, Mr Kesari told India Today that he was 84 (see below). Accordingly he would have been born in 1915, and not 1919 mentioned by some websites
Wily, shrewd, canny and astute. Sitaram Kesri was the quintessential Indian politician.
Adie-hard Congressman to the end, Sitaram ‘Chacha' Kesri clung rather more fiercely to his anachronistic Gandhi cap than to the Gandhian ideals which he touted as his inspiration through seven eventful decades of political life. Devotion to the Nehruvian dynasty, Gandhian thought, the Congress brand of secularism: these had been articles of faith with the 81-year-old Kesri. But in the eve of his life, the dyed-in-the-wool Mandalite was beset by doubts. He found much to admire in B.R. Ambedkar and simultaneously, less to appreciate in Nehru. He was heard saying that fellow Congressman V.N. Gadgil's espousal of moderate Hinduism should not be dismissed out of hand. Most significant of all was his disenchantment with the Nehru-Gandhis, whom he had served all his life.
Kesri, Sonia's foremost loyalist, never recovered from his humiliating ouster from the Congress presidency at her behest in 1998. Some saw it as poetic justice; after all, he had conspired to supplant P.V. Narasimha Rao in just as heavy-handed a fashion. Others said that Kesri was a duly elected Congress president and thus, his forced resignation was undemocratic. The fact remained that Kesri, who had repeatedly put his Gandhi topi—and the party gaddi—at Sonia's feet, was summarily kicked out when he wasn't prepared to quit.
He became a bitter critic of Sonia in private and derived much satisfaction from pointing out that her electoral track record was far worse than his: 110 or so Lok Sabha seats to his 140. He took a dig at her by singing paeans to Mamata Banerjee, describing her as a model of "Indianness", a "Durga avatar" and the "future hope" of the Congress. Ironical, considering she had quit the party under his stewardship. Another jibe was his hailing Maneka's son Feroze Varun as the most promising of the new generation of Nehru-Gandhis and making it a point to attend the release of his book of poems. Much of his venom, however, was reserved for the wily ‘thakur' Arjun Singh, whom he saw as the most power-hungry of Congressmen.
Behind the scenes and off-the-record, he was often on the phone with his former bugbears Sharad Pawar and Rao and his erstwhile lieutenant Jitendra Prasada, urging them to take on Sonia. The trusted khazanchi (treasurer) of the Gandhis since the early days of Indira had become a closet rebel. Yet party old-timers say Indira's faith in her aicc treasurer was something of a byword: the notoriously niggardly Kesri's oral statement carried more weight with her than any khata (account book). Rajiv continued to repose the same faith in Kesri but it was Rao who upgraded him to Cabinet rank in 1991.
As a minister, he wasn't a success. Handed the welfare portfolio, he allowed the bureaucracy to have a field day, his only caveat being that a call from the secretary to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation should be accorded top priority. Anything Sonia's minions or the rgf wanted, they should get. A stranger to the computer and out of sync with economic liberalisation, he devoted himself to schemes like the rehabilitation of scavengers and the welfare of sc/sts and the physically handicapped.
Kesri died a disgruntled man. Never having achieved his ambition of becoming prime minister, he'll best be remembered for his still-inexplicable ouster of H.D. Deve Gowda which many political analysts saw as the beginning of the end of the Third Front—and of Kesri himself. After having denied to his own partymen—in the hearing of journalists—that he'd withdraw support to Gowda, he went ahead and did just that less than 12 hours later.Personal animosity towards the PM or the prompting of a corporate house to which he was very close? The truth may well be interred with Kesri.
His tenure as Congress president had a less publicised but no less significant side: he sought to give backward politics a strong push. Son of a shopkeeper from the Kesarwani (backward) caste, he was among the first to extend support to V.P. Singh's Mandal agenda. He had a soft corner for Laloo, all the more so because the backward leader had the mass following he did not. Lacking popular appeal, he quit electoral politics after one stint in the Lok Sabha and thereafter was returned to the Rajya Sabha for five consecutive terms, until Sonia denied him a nomination.
For a man so singularly bereft of charisma, he was quite popular with the press, which delighted in his idiosyncrasies—his habit of endlessly circling the Akbar Road roundabout when he wanted to think, his fondness for pomeranians, chilli chicken and Asha Parekh and his sartorial informality. He'd greet them in his banian and didn't turn a hair when a not-so-young cwc member wandered into his house late one evening in shorts and T-shirt. He loved Hindi movies (Karisma was a favourite), and was fond of jokes, the more ribald the better.
Kesri, aware that he was at times a figure of fun, delighted in playing to the gallery—once, tongue-in-cheek, served dog biscuits instead of cookies, with tea. Described in Outlook as ‘Villain No. 1' of 1998 and depicted with horns on the cover, he took it well and never once uttered a word of reproach.
He was close to a clutch of senior journalists who formed the core of his coterie and are said to have played a crucial role in his decision to dethrone Gowda—something he was later to regret. His lifestyle was simple and his family, comprising a son and two daughters, never so much as seen in Delhi—this, despite the quantum of party funds he handled.
Despite a reputation for financial probity, Kesri wasn't immune from scandal. His proximity to a corporate house drew fire from the enforcement directorate and he was alleged to have foreign exchange deposits abroad. Even more damaging, he was embroiled in the investigation into the murder/ death of a doctor who reportedly regularly ministered to him. He maintained that both cases were politically motivated.
How Kesri became the Congress chief/ 1996
For over two years, he had stubbornly refused to heed calls that he quit as party president. Last fortnight former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao must have realised that if he had to hang on, he had to step down.
Much before special judge Ajit Bharihoke read out the order on September 21 summoning Rao to appear in court as an accused in the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case, Rao had drafted his resignation from the Congress presidentship.
Perhaps it was his fabled survival instinct that made him decide to step down. With four cases in which the CBI is probing his alleged involvement coming up in various courts in the space of seven days, Rao knew that the legal noose was tightening.
In retrospect, it was just as well that he quit. For months, his detractors in the party - and their number has been swelling - have been openly talking rebellion. Even in early September, Rao countered the dissidents' threat of a parallel AICC convention by promising an official AICC where he would no doubt have drummed up the support required to thwart the dissidents' designs. Justice Bharihoke's order changed all that. Barely 48 hours after Rao quit, Sitaram Kesri, the party's treasurer for 18 years, was elected the new Congress chief.
And for once, the pro and anti-Rao camps in the party were singing the same tune: that Kesri was the best bet for the party at this juncture when, virtually wiped out in its once traditional strongholds, it is attempting to regain a foothold with an alliance with the BSP in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
The transition was surprisingly smooth. The CWC, convened specifically to name the successor, ignored last-ditch efforts by Rao loyalists, who kept up a chorus that he be asked to continue in office. Rajesh Pilot protested that the issue of a new president be kept in abeyance till the next AICC session but found no takers. Ultimately it was left to A.K. Antony, initially seen as a contender for the top post, to propose Kesri's name.
In fact Kesri had emerged as the front-runner from almost the moment it became known that the top job was up for grabs. Devendra Dwivedi, a Rao confidant, had already begun to hint to fellow Rao loyalists that "Kesriji would be the best choice."
Among the dissidents, former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran and Ghulam Nabi Azad rallied round Kesri. Perhaps equally important, both loyalists and dissidents knew that Kesri had the backing of Sonia Gandhi on whom Kesri had called on at least twice that day.
Sonia is said to have told several partymen who met her that more than anything else, what the Congress needed now was unity and not a bitter power struggle that could tear it further apart.
For several months, she has not revealed her mind on party matters. As such her remarks are a clear indication that with Rao out, Sonia will now play a more active role in its affairs. And while Antony too was in the reckoning - like Kesri, he also enjoys the blessings of 10 Janpath - Rao's aides say that the former prime minister always believed that Antony "was too unpredictable to be managed".
The appointment of Kesri, a Backward Bania from Bihar, is in a way a break from the party practice since Indira Gandhi split the party for the first time in 1969 wherein the top post was also held by its leader in Parliament. Sceptics may point out that when given the opportunity, Congressmen messed it up: by choosing to replace a controversial 75-year-old with an uninspiring 77-year-old.
For while Kesri is an excellent organisational man, he is no mass leader, which is perhaps what the Congress needs most at this juncture. He lacks clout even in his home state of Bihar and, what's worse, has a dismal electoral record, having won just one popular election, that too way back in 1967.
Since then he has always chosen the safer route to Parliament-via the Rajya Sabha. More important, as the party treasurer for 18 years, he is hardly in a position to wash his hands of the charge that the Congress adopted questionable methods to raise funds.
If Kesri has one definitive advantage over Rao in terms of electoral politics, it is that in these days of caste politics, he is a Backward. Significantly, in 1990 when everyone was pillorying the then prime minister V. P. Singh for attempting to implement the Mandal Commission report, Kesri was among the few who backed the Janata Dal leader.
Since then he has been as much a Mandal messiah as Singh and as welfare minister in the Rao government, he piloted the Mandal Commission-based reservation bill in Parliament.
The question that Congressmen have begun to ask themselves, however, is whether Kesri will last long enough to give the party a definite pro-OBC tilt. The party announcement says he is the "provisional president", whose election will have to be ratified by the AICC.
As of now, there is no guarantee that he will be the unanimous choice for party president when the polls are held in January. Already Pilot has struck a discordant note by making it clear that when elections are next held, his hat will be in the ring. Even Pawar is known to be not averse to joining the fray.
In this situation, Kesri will have to walk the tightrope over the next three months in trying to ensure that he doesn't rub too many party-men the wrong way as he seeks to win the election.
And until such time as he is formally confirmed by the AICC, his work as the party chief will also be hamstrung - he will have to depend on the team that he inherited from Rao. Besides, since Rao still continues to be the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), there is not much scope for Kesri to emerge as the unchallenged leader.
Much, therefore, would depend on how Kesri gets along with his predecessor. Once an unabashed supporter of the former prime minister, Kesri in recent times is known to have prompted many a Congressmen to cross swords with Rao while choosing to remain in the background himself.
Till a few months ago, Rao had implicit faith in the new incumbent, but at the moment he is unlikely to yield on major decisions that Kesri may want to take in the interest of the party - like, for example, initiating unity moves aimed at bringing back into the fold those who left the party in recent times-like N.D. Tiwari, Arjun Singh, G.K. Moopanar, P. Chidambaram and Madhavrao Scindia. All of them left the party not because of ideological reasons but due to personal differences with Rao.
While a majority of Congressmen want them to return, they would rather wait - until Rao ceases to head the CPP also. That suits Rao fine, since their return would mean his total marginalisation, something he cannot afford now. Kesri also knows that as long as Rao presides over the CPP, he will not be in a position to dramatically alter the Congress' ties with the United Front (UF) Government at the Centre. For the party's 200-odd MPs, Rao will continue to be the boss. And since Rao's own fate is to an extent dependent on the fortunes of the Deve Gowda Government, he is not expected to allow Kesri any leeway to alter the equations at the Centre.
At the same time, should Rao's own personal equation with Deve Gowda undergo any drastic fluctuation in the future, Kesri can be expected to play on the fears of the Congress MPs, most of whom are wary of facing another election. That apart, Kesri will have to sooner or later reconcile to the idea being voiced by several Congressmen that the party join the Government. Many Congress MPs, encouraged by senior leaders like Sharad Pawar, are not averse to being part of the Government.
Naturally, Rao will oppose such an arrangement because it will definitely weaken his own hold over the MPs. Pawar, for one, is of the view that the Congress should join the Government to lend it stability. UF insiders say that Deve Gowda is not averse to offering him the deputy prime minister's post.
One reason for Deve Gowda's keenness to have the Congress in the UF Government is to avoid the frequent ideological skirmishes with the left parties. Says a senior minister: "The policies we follow are mostly those of the Congress. If the Congress joins the UF, it will give much more scope for Deve Gowda to act on his own."
Kesri will face his first test in the next few days as people in Uttar Pradesh vote for a new government in Luc-know. Already, party-men in the state are viewing Rao's ouster as a blessing as it was his continuation at the helm that had alien- ated the party, particularly from the minorities who held Rao personally responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Kanshi Ram, who along with Rao, initialled the BSP-Congress alliance, is reported to have told his supporters in Lucknow the day Rao resigned that the alliance will "now do even better".
But if the fiercely contested three-way race fails to throw up a clear winner, Kesri will have to decide whether to stick with the BSP or go with the UF in the formation of the government. Kesri may be tempted to back Mulayam Singh Yadav with whom he enjoys a good rapport.
Kesri at the moment may be basking in the limelight as the new Congress president but the pressure is bound to tell on him soon. He will be expected to revive the party, preside over the party organisational elections, listen to Rao and Deve Gowda at the same time - and contend with the ambitions of Congress dissidents like Pawar and Pilot.
Only an exceptionally tactful handling of all these problems till January 1997 - when the AICC elections are completed - will help Kesri's transition from being the provisional Congress president to the unquestioned boss of the party.
As Congress President in 1996
The assertive chief is trying to chart a new course for the party by steadily distancing from the Rao legacy.
On September 23, the day Sitaram Kesri succeeded P. V. Narasimha Rao as Congress president, a senior party leader thus rationalised his elevation: "Kesriji has become the president not because he was the most acceptable candidate, but because he is the least unacceptable one." Two months down the line, things may have changed.
For the sprightly 80-year-old Kesri seems to be a man in a hurry, making untiring attempts to win acceptability for himself within the party, and for the Congress among its one-time constituents.
He loves to meet the media and issues policy statements himself. Kesri insists on Mayawati being Uttar Pradesh chief minister even more than BSP chief Kanshi Ram.
By appointing known Rao baiters like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmad Patel to crucial party posts and making Tariq Anwar his politicial secretary, he has indicated that he wants the party to say goodbye to the Rao legacy. And to the United Front (UF), which acts as if Congress support can be taken for granted, he is sending unambiguous signals that his party will not allow itself to be dictated to.
Party face-lift: Ghulam Nabi Azad's elevation and Manmohan Singh's induction into the CWC are designed to be pro-minority signals
Clearly, Kesri has begun to show a new, aggressive face. In the more than six decades that he has been in politics, Kesri has not been able to build a base of his own, yet he learnt to survive by just one credo - be at the right place at the right time and say the right things to the right people. In the party, he was often referred to as a sycophant, but he stalked the corridors of power long enough to gain an insight into the Congress psyche. The one thing he scrupulously avoided was controversy.
This perhaps explains why, in a party where no one person manages to hold office for more than a couple of years, he had an uninterrupted tenure of 18 years as Congress treasurer-drafted initially by Mrs Gandhi in 1978. Only last week, he passed on that mantle to Patel, one of his confidants.
In a party that is today synonymous with corruption, not a finger was raised during Kesri's tenure as the keeper of Congress funds. A known Gandhi family handyman, he remained their trouble-shooter right through the '80s - dislodging or propping up 18 chief ministers. Yet, Kesri has no bitter enemies within the party.
But now, having occupied the hot-seat, his agenda is to first consolidate his own position. He has to graduate from being the "provisional" president to full-time party boss. The AICC has to either endorse his president ship or look for a replacement in March next year, when it is meeting to decide on organisational matters.
Shedding the past: The new Congress' chief moves make it clear that the Rao era is over and that there is a place for anti-P. V. Narasimha Rao partymen in his new set-up
The shrewd player that he is, Kesri knows that, unlike P. V. Narasimha Rao, he is not heading government to be able to keep partymen happy by doling out crumbs of power.
"Congressmen only back a leader who can poll votes and bring the party to power," says an AICC general secretary. Kesri, with limited time and options, is striving to become a winning proposition for his party. As a CWC member put it: "Kesri knows even a miracle cannot revive the Congress till March," which is when party elections are due. His only card during this period is to make the right noises about rejuvenating the party. And Kesri is doing just that - by, for example, determinedly pushing Mayawati's case.
A risky proposition indeed. The BSP is not averse to even tying up with the BJP - if the saffronites settle for Mayawati. But by backing Mayawati, Kesri is not addressing Dalits alone. He is simultaneously sending two signals to Congressmen: that he is no more under Rao's shadow, and that only through taking up the cause of the Dalits, minorities and the Backwards can the party hope to regain lost ground.
Within the party he has targeted the younger lot, who have responded with enthusiasm. It is this lobby that is now helping Kesri consolidate his position.
Leaders like Azad, Patel, Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Tariq Anwar, Mamata Banerjee, Ramesh Chenithala, among others, were not only active in getting him the top slot in the party but are also working overtime to get him elected as the full-time president.
In fact, it was Azad and Patel who openly opposed Rao once he lost power and convinced other CWC dissidents like K. Karunakaran, Sharad Pawar and Vijayabhaskar Reddy to accept Kesri as a compromise candidate.
Now it is Kesri's turn to reward them. His choice of Patel as the new party treasurer has a twofold benefit.
With his clean image and proximity to Sonia Gandhi, Patel can lobby for Kesri both with the younger MPs, and with the Gandhi household. Similarly, by elevating Azad and Anwar, and inducting Manmohan Singh into the CWC, Kesri has sent a signal to the minorities. "That Patel is the first Muslim treasurer of the Congress in almost three decades will not be lost on the minorities," says Azad.
However, Kesri is not merely wooing the minorities through these strategic appointments. He is also making it clear that the Rao era is over, and that he will have his own organisational setup in the AICC. All the three recent appointees in the AICC - Manmohan, Azad and Patel - had turned against Rao. For months Patel had held meetings of Rao baiters at his residence in a bid to dislodge the former party chief.
Azad was among the few to raise the one-man-one-post issue at the first CWC meeting held after the Congress lost power, hinting that Rao should make way for someone who could revitalise the party. And Manmohan created a flutter in party circles when, as corruption charges against Rao mounted, he remarked: "Caesar's wife should be above suspicion."
If he has made his intentions clear within the party, outside it Kesri has made it known - to Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda - that Congress support cannot be taken for granted. Not surprisingly, such posturings have set Congress MPs thinking in terms of new permutations and combinations that could see the party back at the Centre.
Closing ranks: The prospect of a return of leaders like G.K. Moopanar, N.D. Tiwari, Arjun Singh and Madhavrao Scindia to Congress worries the UF Says a former Congress minister: "If G.K. Moopanar with his Tamil Maanila Congress, N.D. Tiwari and Arjun Singh with their Congress(T) and Madhavrao Scindia with his Madhya Pardesh Vikas Congress return, the party's strength in the Lok Sabha will jump to over 160 and we will then go in for a realignment and form our own government." There are many MPs in the party who believe the Congress should stake its claim.
There are two secrets to Kesri's quick success. First, his understanding of the Congressman's mind. Kesri knows that the Congress is crowded with nobodies because no one - after the eclipse of the Gandhis - is big enough as a mass leader.
And the clout of regional leaders like Karunakaran, Pawar, Vijayabhaskar Reddy and A.K. Antony has considerably diminished after they failed to ensure victory for the Congress in their respective states. "In this sense, Kesri is no less a leader than the rest," admits a CWC member.
Besides, Congressmen have also realised that, in the prevailing atmosphere of caste-dominated politics, having Kesri as party president has its advantages. After all, he is the most saleable Mandal face in the Congress, being a Backward Bania himself.
Implemented 27 per cent reservation for OBCs
Kesri was one of the first Congress leaders to back the job quota for OBCs despite Rajiv Gandhi's reservations on it in 1990. Again, it was Kesri who, as welfare minister during Rao's tenure, implemented 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in government services.
In this sense Kesri can be a Congress entry point to the politics of "social justice" and can match a Deve Gowda, a Laloo Prasad Yadav or a Mulayam Singh Yadav as well. Kesri understands his significance and is therefore playing the social justice card to his advantage.
For instance, by blaming the UF for using the social justice slogan only to grab power. "They have come to power on the social justice plank. Now they must do social justice to a Dalit mahila (Mayawati)," he says. Such rhetoric goes down well with Congressmen, who believe that only such tactics can help the Congress regain its traditional Dalit and Backward votes.
That he's sold his ideas well in a short span of time is evident from the stream of Congressmen now making a beeline for Kesri's Purana Qila Road residence in Delhi. The durbars that he often holds is open to party workers and leaders alike.
From day one of his opening a new chapter in the Congress, the once low-profile party treasurer-popularly known as chacha (uncle) - has lived up to the popular perception of being a down-to-earth politician.
When Kesri visited the AICC headquarters at Akbar Road in the capital after his appointment, senior leaders like Janardhan Poojary, R.K. Dhawan, Madhavsinh Solanki in the normal course hardly the kind to act deferential towards Kesri - jostled with one another to present him with bouquets. Old-timers recall that as Indira Gandhi's all-powerful political aide, Dhawan was known to keep Kesri waiting in an ante room for hours.
Often in the past, powerful politicians, perhaps out of sheer smugness have placed in positions of power those whom they believed would be nothing more than puppets-confident that they would remain thus for ever. Such calculations have often gone awry. Sitaram Kesri may well be the latest to prove them wrong.
Kesri's Strategy [in Nov 1996]
Play the Dalit card by backing Mayawati for the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh in order to convince Congressmen that he is the party's best bet to regain lost vote banks.
Make gradual changes in the AICC to signal that he is distancing himself from Narasimha Rao, and consolidating his hold over the organisational set-up by inducting Manmohan Singh into the CWC and making Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel office-bearers.
Adopt a confrontationist posture towards the UF to create the impression that he can change power equations at the Centre till the time he brings about Congress unity.
Rasheed Kidwai: How Kesri was replaced/ 1998
The Sonia camp said that the Congress had failed to capitalise on Sonia’s charisma because of organisational weaknesses. Sonia accepted the argument and started toying with the idea of taking over the party. She, however, made it clear that unless Kesri stepped down gracefully and invited her to take over, she would not opt for a coup. But Chacha was in no mood to oblige.
The next chapter of the power struggle was put into motion. Worried CWC members held a series of secret conclaves to work out how to ‘install’ Sonia at the helm. Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony and Jitendra Prasada were given the task of sounding Kesri out about retiring ‘gracefully’. Initially, Kesri’s ‘nephews’ Ahmad Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad approached him. But Kesri laughed off the proposal. “You have been sent by Arjun Singh and George. It cannot be Soniaji’s words. If she wants me out, let her say so”, he told them.
A restless Pawar joined in the ‘Kesri hatao’ campaign. It was not that Pawar was enthusiastic about Sonia taking over, but the Maratha strongman was getting feedback from Mumbai and the corporate world that as long as Kesri was the head of the party, the industrial houses would not support it. For the next few weeks, Antony, Pranab, Pawar and Prasada met on numerous occasions to take stock of the situation. In these deliberations, Pawar and Prasada favoured a ‘surgical operation’, but Pranab and Antony wanted more time. Arjun Singh and Vincent George began drumming up support for Sonia among newly elected MP
Pranab pulls a fast one Soon a handful of Kesri supporters who held important party posts launched a counter-offensive. Led by party general secretary Tariq Anwar, this group sought to curtail CWC meetings that had to be convened by the party chief. Kesri was advised not to call any CWC meetings because the party’s bigwigs might ask him to step down. Kesri was convinced that the party constitution gave him ultimate powers and that, as long as he was the elected chief, nobody would dare to remove him.
The pro-changers, however, succeeded in persuading Kesri to call a CWC meet on 5 March 1998 to assess the party’s poor performance in the general elections. Kesri had little option but to concede. The meeting saw the CWC requesting Sonia to play a more direct and meaningful role. It took the unusual step of asking her to help pick a new leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), a post that Kesri already held.
Kesri made his displeasure public. He accused Pawar of plotting against him in order to become CPP leader. Kesri told his supporter Tariq Anwar — who later joined Pawar’s NCP — that Sonia would not let Pawar become CPP leader. The old man was proved right on this count at least. When Sonia took over as party chief, she got herself elected CPP leader even though she was not an MP. She was helped by Pranab who suggested an amendment in the CPP constitution. It stated that any party leader was free to get elected to its parliamentary body even if he/she was not a member of either house of Parliament!
Amid many deliberations and behind-the-scenes activities, Kesri finally agreed to see Sonia. The loyalist in him could not resist unilaterally declaring that he was willing to step down as party chief, if she was going to take over from him. Kesri later recalled to the author how he was taken aback when she gently asked him, “When?”
Kesri’s dreams of a ‘commoner’ becoming prime minister were over. His constant refrain that the Congress president could not be ousted was no longer convincing. Some of his close aides asked him to defy the leadership. But Kesri could not muster the courage. He would keep recalling to anyone who cared to listen how Indira Gandhi had made him AICC treasurer. The bravado at being ‘elected’ AICC chief evaporated. But there was more drama to ensue.
Kesri told Sonia and the other restless CWC members that he would convene a press conference to make the formal announcement of his departure.
Unseemly tug of war On 9 March 1998, Kesri announced his resignation as Congress president, but before the ‘good news’ could travel from 24 Akbar Road to 10 Janpath, Kesri threw in a rider.
Under pressure from his coterie, Kesri claimed he had merely stated his intention to step down. The AICC chief said he had summoned the news agencies to clarify that he would place his resignation before the AICC general body meeting, which has more than a thousand delegates, to seek their approval. “They have elected me, and I will seek their permission to resign,” he said.
The next six days were chaotic, full of suspense and an unseemly tug-of-war. Kesri kept giving interviews and sound-bytes that were contradictory. The old guard called on him again but Kesri was defiant. “You wanted me to resign. I have done it”, he said adding that now it was up to him to convene the AICC session.
Prasada, who was the party’s vice president, took charge. He told Pranab, Antony and others that the time for ‘direct action’ had come.
A day before Kesri was unceremoniously removed, Prasada hosted a lunch at which thirteen of the twenty CWC members were present. In their presence, Pranab produced a strongly worded draft resolution that asked Kesri to immediately convene a CWC meet to end the uncertainty in the wake of his decision to resign as the party chief. The resolution said that Kesri’s gesture had bewildered party workers all over the country and that he should step down in Sonia’s favour.
Kick the dog On 14 March 1998, 24 Akbar Road was a mute witness to a constitutional coup that saw the rather unsavoury exit of an ‘elected’ Congress president. Kesri was so upset with the day’s events that he kicked his loyal Pomeranian, Ruchi. The ailing Kesri, then seventy-nine, had arrived at the CWC meeting at 24 Akbar Road convinced that a party president could not be forced out. He did not know that before the 11 am meeing, most CWC members had gathered at Pranab’s home to endorse two crucial statements. The first was an ultimatum asking Kesri to step down; the second, a resolution replacing him with Sonia Gandhi.
The moment Kesri stepped into the hall, he knew something was amiss. Loyalist Tariq Anwar was the only one who stood up to greet him. After Kesri sat down, Pranab began reading out a resolution’thanking’ him for his services and invoking Clause J of Article 19 of the Congress constitution.
A horrified Kesri listened to its provisions: the CWC could act beyond its constitutional powers in ‘special situations’ as long as it got the decision ratified by the AICC within six months. Party leaders later admitted that the provision did not specifically say that an elected party president could be removed with its help.
‘Arre yeh kya keh rahe ho (Hey, what are you saying)’ was all Kesri could say when he found his voice. But there was a smirk on the faces of his colleagues. Kesri raved against the ‘unconstitutional’ meeting and loudly protested that he was still the Congress chief. But Prasada, the vice president of the party was already announcing, to thunderous applause, that ‘Madam Sonia Gandhi’ was their new leader.
The axed president stormed out, followed by Anwar. He spent more than an hour in his office, calling up his advisors, but it was already getting difficult to hear them amid the crackers and slogans welcoming Sonia. When Kesri stepped out of the room, his name board was missing, already replaced by a computer printout that said: ‘Congress President Sonia Gandhi’.
Within minutes, the Special Protection Group moved into the party headquarters. By the time Sonia arrived for the day’s second CWC meeting, party leaders who used to drive in had been told to get out of their cars on the street and walk in.
When Kesri reached his Purana Qila residence, he was in no mood for Ruchi’s joyous welcome. However, the moment he kicked her, he was overwhelmed by remorse. The finest of biscuits — presented to Kesri during his tenure — were offered to the puzzled pooch.
When Sonia, the new party chief, arrived a few hours later to comfort him, Kesri rushed to greet her. Neither mentioned the ‘coup’. Sonia sought Kesri’s blessings and guidance, and the old man puffed up with pleasure. By 7pm he was singing paeans to the Nehru-Gandhis while promising to get even with Pranab, Prasada and Arjun.
While Congress leaders hailed Sonia’s appointment, Khare lashed out at the constitutional coup. He remarked in The Hindu: ‘The constitutional coup was hailed widely as restoring the party’s leadership back to the site of its only natural entitlement — the Nehru-Gandhi family. When the historians get to chronicle the import of that eventful day, most of the honourable men of the Congress would be shown to have acted way less than honourably; even those who owned their rehabilitation and place in the CWC to the old man had no qualms in abandoning him. The transition that day cast the Congress once again in the dynastic mould, and the consequences are visible’.
Kesri died a disturbed and disillusioned man. He could not reconcile himself to his unceremonial ouster. There was much that he wanted to say, but he suffered an asthma attack and then slipped into a coma. Kesri’s end came on 24 October 2000. He was eighty one. His faithful dog Ruchi died the same evening.
Excerpted from 24 Akbar Road: A Short History of The People Behind The Fall And Rise of The Congress by Rasheed Kidwai, with permission from Hachette India (Pvt) Ltd. 24 Akbar Lane, 288 pages, Rs495, releases in India on July 10.
2000: almost became homeless at age 84
Lakshmi Iyer, June 19, 2000: India Today
Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to step in to ensure that former Congress president Sitaram Kesri had a roof over his head in Delhi.
Q. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is said to have played a key role to ensure that you were not moved out of your house.
A. I received it when I least expected it. I am 84 years old now. I was planning to shift back to my family home in Danapur in Bihar. As for the government gesture, all I can say is I appreciate it a lot.
Q. The Congress is claiming credit, saying it had pressured the Government to allow you to stay.
A. Please do not make my house a controversy. Everyone has helped me in the matter.
Q. How do you view the government's decision to honour you as a freedom fighter?
A. I suppose they have been very generous.
Q. Do you feel the Congress does not care for you enough? After all, you served the party for over six decades.
A. No, I don't think so. Whatever I am, I owe to the party. I have been a Seva Dal worker as well as the Congress president.
