Is Karti getting away for being Chidu’s son?

Is Karti getting away for being Chidu’s son?

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 06:54 AM IST
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New Delhi: Days after the ex-union finance minister P Chidambaram hinted at the possibility of a non-Gandhi becoming the Congress president and his son Karti spoke against the high command culture, the party’s official spokespersons are tackling uncomfortable questions about the father son duo.

“Is Karti being spared because he is the son of the former union finance minister? Can anybody else make such a statement and not face its consequences? Has he been questioned by the disciplinary action committee?” These are the some of the questions that the spokespersons have to duck under the cover of internal democracy and the freedom of expressing personal views.

But the main point made by Karti is that the Tamli Nadu state unit should have the same autonomy as the neighbouring Kerala unit. “The high command and observer culture must end,” he is reported to have said even while maintaining that he has no issues with the central leadership of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.

Interestingly, this is the substance of the criticism from former union minister G K Vasan who recently quit the party.

The autonomy enjoyed by the Kerala unit is such that after its recommendation the central leadership had to strip former union minister Shashi Tharoor of his status as party spokesman. Tharoor had become ‘supportive ‘of Modi in his Clean India campaign as one of the nine icons hand-picked by the prime minister. The fact that the Kerala unit has a different status is also conceded by the party’s general secretaries who have handled the affairs of this state.

However, the grouse that the central leaders mess with the state affairs is not just restricted to Tamil Nadu. Indeed, it extends to all states with the substance of the criticism being that the general secretaries instead of playing the role of non-partisan arbiters are always loaded in favour of the chief minister or the party president. The ‘other’ voices are not even heard. Perhaps, Karti has aired the genuine grievance of the state leaders and the leadership is unable to muzzle his voice.

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