JOIN USMoily no more chief spokesman of Congress
Moily has been apparently axed for making critical remarks about Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar, whom the Congress is trying to woo to get an edge in the post-poll numbers game.
He had also criticised Union ministers Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan. Though the Congress could not strike a pre-poll deal with Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) in Bihar, it hopes that both will back its bid to retain power after the elections.
Though Moily will continue as the chairman of the AICC’s media department, he has been relieved of the responsibility of interacting with journalists.
Temporary arrangement
The move appears to be intended to soothe the ruffled feathers of the regional satraps the party hopes to win support from after the poll results are out. The Congress sought to play down the replacement of Moily with Dwivedi and described it as merely a temporary arrangement necessitated by the polls.
Dwivedi, the AICC general secretary in charge of the party organisation, had issued a notification early last month stating that he would oversee the media department’s functioning as Moily would contest the polls from Chikballapur in Karnataka and would be busy for campaigning. “I had asked him (Moily) to resume functioning as media department’s chairman when he returned to Delhi after polling in his constituency,” said Dwivedi.
“But the party leadership has now asked me to continue overseeing the media department’s functioning for a few more days as he (Moily) would have to go to other states for campaigning as well as to his own constituency for counting,” he added.
Moily addressed a routine press conference in AICC headquarters on May 4. He accompanied Rahul Gandhi in a news conference the next day, when the young scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family praised the Bihar chief minister. This raised the hackles of Prasad and Paswan, who were among the Congress’ trusted allies since 2004 till the seat-sharing talks for Bihar failed last March.
Gandhi’s remarks about Kumar were apparently a part of the Congress’ strategy for post-poll numbers game, but Moily and other party spokespersons tried to manage its ripple effects. But Moily apparently exceeded his brief when he said Nitish was polluting his secular credentials by aligning with a communal party like the BJP and alleged that what he was practising was a mix of secularism and communalism.
Sonia Gandhi did not like his comments, as the party was trying to avoid making harsh remarks about Nitish as well as Prasad and Paswan, to keep post-poll options open.
‘I was not sacked’
Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Saturday denied he was sacked by the party high command as head of the media cell, and said he relinquished the post as part of a “temporary arrangement”, reports DHNS from Bangalore.
Reacting to reports that he has been sacked for criticising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Moily told reporters here that it was a temporary administrative arrangement of the All India Congress Committee.
“Janardhan Dwivedi has been made the chief temporarily. Someone has played some kind of mischief in this regard,” he said.