HYDERABAD, Dec 23: Despite Congress claims of being in a stronger position for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the large rally at Vijayawada, by the party on Sunday with AICC president Sitaram Kesri in attendance exposed the inherent chinks in its armour.

Firstly, there was no discernable "anti-establishment" sentiment that Congressmen hope will further their prospects at the hustings. Secondly, the groupism and dissensions within the party became apparent with former Cuddapah MP Y S Rajasekhar Reddy venting his ire against the "killers of my good friend Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao", against whom the administration has yet to initiate prosecution.

This reference was indirectly against the organisers of Sunday's rally, former Union minister P Upendra and Devineni Rajasekhar alias Nehru, Telugu Desam MLA, who is now with the Congress and is the mainstay behind Upendra's campaign. Both the leaders were till recently in the Telugu Desam and have switched sides. Nehru is the main accused in the Ranga murder case and Rajasekhar Reddy made no bones about the heartburn within the Congress over the prominence given to the "defectors".

The Ranga-Nehru affair has become a bone of contention with Congress leaders speaking out against the role being played by Nehru now. In the Devineni-Vangaveeti gang war in Vijayawada, Nehru was backed by the Telugu Desam while Ranga was a Congress legislator who met his end in 1988.

Subsequently, the Congress MLAs wife Ratna Kumari was elected on the Congress ticket and after re-election in 1994, was suspended from the party. She is now with the Telugu Desam.

"When his widow herself has abandoned the Congress, how can one find fault with the Congress accepting Nehru into its fold?" asks a senior party leader.

One section of partymen in the area is opposed to the renomination of Upendra for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat. He was given the Congress nomination during the last election by P V Narasimha Rao, then AICC president and prime minister. This time, "PV" has become such an untouchable that there was not a single cutout of his at the Vijayawada rally, while those prominently visible included Sonia Gandhi and even AP Youth Congress president P Sudhakar Reddy.

Upendra, the main organiser of the show, washed his hands off the affair by claiming that it was the APCC that decided whose cutouts were to be used, while it is common knowledge that AICC president Kesri is allergic to PV now. Sympathisers and followers of Narasimha Rao are peeved over the "insult" to the former prime minister who was able to last his full term despite heading a minority government. Yet another irritant in the party's smooth sailing is the skirmish between former MP K S Rao and Upendra. Rao is stated to be heading the anti-Upendra campaign but has his own detractors.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.