The Congress’ fortunes could be changing

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is proving to be far more astute than detractors would give him credit for, chose his close aide and the son of Murli Deora to head the city Congress

I was in New Delhi, hanging around at the residence of then Congress president Sitaram Kesari along with a couple of party hopefuls from then Bombay, when I received an enduring lesson about the importance of the Bombay Regional Congress Committee to the party.

Milind Deora is well connected with the city’s entrepreneurs. (FILE)

This particular regional committee is unique to the Congress, which has city units everywhere else in the country, but they are all subordinate to the Pradesh Congress Committees in their respective states. The Mumbai committee is independent and its president does not have to report to the state president, a fact hated by all Pradesh Congress presidents since Independence, including stalwarts like Vasantdada Patil, who hated the arrangement while he was both the state president when SK Patil was the city Congress president and as the CM by when Murli Deora was given the job. SK Patil was among the most hated city Congress presidents for his independence, although Deora had better capacity to get along with state CMs and Pradesh Congress chiefs.

As I hung out at Kesari’s residence, I noticed how flummoxed he was at receiving calls from leading industrialists and entrepreneurs from Bombay. Deora had resigned from his post after the Congress had suffered a major beating at the municipal elections and there was a mad scramble in the Congress for his job. Sharad Pawar, then the most powerful leader in the Maharashtra Congress, had been pushing for his protégé Chhagan Bhujbal and Kripashankar Singh, a Kesari favourite, was also shortlisted for the job.

Although Deora had resigned, I realised the job of Bombay Congress president was less political and more economic — that is why CMs and party presidents hated the Bombay Congress presidents. The incumbent was the de-facto treasurer of the Congress and that made him so independent of other more politically powerful leaders.

The donors to the Congress were rattled that someone they did not take kindly to might be appointed in Deora’s place and told Kesari flatly the funds would stop rolling in if anyone, but Murli Deora or Sunil Dutt, whom they trusted implicitly, was appointed the Bombay Congress president. Dutt turned down the offer, telling Kesari, “Ask me whatever else you want, send me to remote areas to campaign, keep me working 24x7, but I will not be responsible for handling money.” Ultimately, he replaced Murli Deora with Murli Deora again, who continued for a few more years becoming the longest serving Bombay Congress president till date. Since then the city has had a series of party chiefs, including the late Gurudas Kamat who was trounced by Deora in the election that brought him back to office, and Kripashankar Singh, all of who failed to return the Congress to power in the municipal corporation. The most recent of these has been Sanjay Nirupam, who fought hard on the ground against the BJP and Shiv Sena, and must be credited for giving the Mumbai Congress a presence in the city.

That alone is not enough to be a Mumbai Congress president, however. Nirupam could not have been a fund collector in the party and the Congress, without a chief minister in a cash-rich state for five years, to whom this responsibility had been transferred, while the city worked under a succession of city chiefs after Murli Deora, could not have continued longer, deprived of much-needed funds this election season. Not surprisingly, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is proving to be far more astute than detractors would give him credit for, chose his close aide and the son of Murli Deora to head the city Congress. The move is less focussed on politics than on giving potential party donors a man they can trust, as Milind is well connected with the city’s entrepreneurs and has their confidence.

Meanwhile my admiration for Rahul Gandhi grows as he persuades both Priya Dutt and Milind Deora, the children of the two most trusted late politicians in the city, to contest the polls and turns the tables this election season.