“Congress is not working unitedly”: Jagdambika Pal

Jagdambika Pal, one time Chief Minister (though only for a brief period) has had the good and bad of politics. A Congressman, he left the party to form Loktantrik Congress Party, became a minister in Kalyan Singh’s BJP Government, was sacked from there only to be sworn in as Chief Minister of the State, but was duped by long-time aide and friend Naresh Aggarwal who joined hands with the SP while Pal returned to the folds of the Congress once again along with his supporters.
Within Congress too, Jagdambika Pal has savoured bouquets and brickbats. He launched a scathing attack on the BJP leadership for raking up the foreign origin issue of Sonia Gandhi and on another occasion he was dismissed from the Presidentship of UPCC by none else but Sonia Gandhi herself and replaced with Salman Khurshid. In a one-on-one interview here, Jagdambika Pal opens his heart to Aziz Haider of Hi Time Express.

The first question that was put to Pal was why, despite several successful rallies by Congress in Kanpur, Lucknow and Rai Bareilly, this was not reflected in the votes the party secured during the recently concluded civic elections. In response Pal said that none of the central leaders including Rahul Gandhi came to campaign during these elections. Though leaders belonging to UP, like Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Dr. Akhilesh Das and he himself did canvass, not even one of the 14 CMs that Congress has at present came to UP. In contradiction, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other senior leaders of various parties were out there in open.
Secondly Pal states categorically that the position of Congress has improved tremendously during these elections. “Results show this,” says he, “the fact that we lost only by 4500 votes in Lucknow when 34000 votes were declared invalid shows that we had won but were made to lose. We have gone to court, the writ petition has been approved, if the court allows recount, we will win.”
However, Pal rues the fact that Congress is not working as a unit, as it should. The will have to work more cohesively at State level if they are to give better results. He also cited Sonia Gandhi’s endeavours in this regard by appointing Zonal Incharges, which helped increase the Congress’s graph. “The manner in which SP misused the bureaucracy and made them work like party workers is out there in open,” he said. “Next day after the results were announced, 37 bureaucrats were transferred and this practice continues till this day. All those SPs, COs and others who worked for fair elections were punished. The bureaucracy is being politicized by the SP.”
Regarding the celebrations of SP government on completion of 3 years in power, Pal says that BJP spent over 600 crores on feel good and India Shining campaigns but the people of this country showed them the way out and Congress came to power when none had least expected it. The civic elections in UP were the semi-finals. Results show that SP has lost this semi-final. “They are boasting that they have got good support in the elections. If that is so, there were at least 600 seats on stake in the nagar nigams, nagar panchayats and town areas. Why are they not giving the number of seats they have won? I can count 25 districts where they were routed; these include Devaria, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Faizabad, Ghonda, Barabanki. They have not won in Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Mainpuri as well. Neither have they performed in Western UP. If out of 70, they have won 10-20 regions like Unnao, Etawah, this cannot be called a win.”
Pal is of view that Muslims are extremely angry with the SP for doing nothing for them and hobnobbing with the BJP. They started looking at BSP but Mayawati too has antagonized them by calling them fundamentalists. “This statement reveals her mentality. She is hoping to form a Government once again with the help of BJP, as she has done on three past occasions. More and more Muslims are coming toward the Congress,” he said.
Regarding bickering within his own party, Pal says that the PCC President should take everybody along. When I was the PCC President, voices were raised against me from within the PCC. On the other hand, I have always tried to give support to the PCC.”
Regarding the statement of Sonia Gandhi, a day prior to his ouster as PCC President, when she had said, “I find it dismal. I have been disappointed by the condition of the Congress party?” Pal is of opinion that Congress has moved from that dismal state to the mainframe. He expresses confidence that in the next election, UP Congress will be one of the potential parties, fighting to form a government in the State.
To a question, whether it was time for Rahul Gandhi to lead the party, so as to minimize the internal differences, Pal feels that the time has not come for that. “Now that the elections are near, they should be fought under the present PCC leadership only,” he said adding further: “I am a man of organization. Rahul ji will definitely campaign. But now when it is time to finalize the names of candidates for each constituency, a change at top leadership will mean that the incumbent will require at least six months to gear up.”