Rahul outburst forces Cabinet rethink

With Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi describing the Manmohan Singh-led Central government’s ordinance to shield convicted legislators as “complete nonsense which should be torn up”, the stage is set for it to be withdrawn. The Union Cabinet is expected to meet on October 3 or 4 to take a final view on the issue. A majority in the Congress at this juncture feel that following Mr Gandhi’s signal, the Cabinet “will withdraw the ordinance”. However, the fate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s fate hangs in the balance as the verdict in the fodder scam case is expected on September 30, nearly two days before the government takes an “official stand” on the ordinance. The RJD chief has reportedly spoken to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to express his resentment over Mr Gandhi’s stand. A seething RJD legislature party leader in the Bihar Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui, while attacking Mr Gandhi, had said: “The entire UPA government seems to be a pygmy before Rahul Gandhi... there seems to be no coordination between the government and the Congress.” However, Mr Gandhi’s sudden outburst against his party and the government’s move to push through the contentious ordinance has clearly indicated the beginning of a generational shift in the party, sources said. While it is expected that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will drop hints of his next move at a possible on-board press meet during his return from the United States, a section in the Congress feels that Mr Gandhi has made it clear that the “old style of compromising following political compulsions is no longer acceptable within the party”. This section is also “confident” that the Prime Minister will “not quit” over the issue. After Mr Gandhi’s letter “praising” the Prime Minister, others in the party and the government have joined the queue to “repose faith in his (Manmohan Singh’s) leadership”. At the same time, some senior Congress ministers have begun toeing the Rahul line while others, like P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari, who had strongly backed the ordinance, have gone quiet for the time being. On Saturday, Veerappa Moily, Rajeev Shukla and Kamal Nath supported Mr Gandhi’s stand on the issue. Mr Moily, it was learnt, was the only one who had opposed the ordinance at the Cabinet meeting. President Pranab Mukherjee, meanwhile, is in no hurry to decide on the ordinance. He has also called for Parliament records to find out who said what on the ordinance. Apart from the RJD, other UPA allies, including the National Conference and the NCP, seemed perturbed by Mr Gandhi denouncing the ordinance. While the NCP has questioned the “timing” of Mr Gandhi’s remarks, National Conference leader and J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has sought a meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee to discuss the controversial ordinance threadbare. Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath refused to commit on the issue. On the fate of the ordinance, Mr Nath merely said that “the Prime Minister would take a call after his return”. As for the shifting power equations, sources said that it had already begun with the young turks gradually coming to the forefront. Some of “Rahul’s men” emerging from the shadows include Kanishk Singh, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Deepender Hooda, Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshit and Madhusudan Mistry. Some of the senior leaders reportedly close to Mr Gandhi include Mr Moily and Digvijay Singh.