Sahay fears Coalgate backlash after Vijayadashmi

The ticking time-bomb of a Union Cabinet reshuffle — ready to explode anytime after President Pranab Mukherjee returns to Raisina Hills post-Vijayadashmi — may yet ruin the festive mood for Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay.

His office exudes optimism. Sahay’s media coordinator Ravichand Kapoor says the office has been receiving requests from different organisations seeking the Minister’s time to inaugurate puja pandals in Ranchi. “Within a couple of days, the list (of the places he will visit) will be finalised,” he added.

However, another close aide of Sahay was concerned, saying the Minister is quite unsure about his position in the Cabinet.

“Politics me utha-patak chalta hai lekin aise nahi. Kisi ko bura lagega,” he confided.

The report of a proposed Cabinet rejig the next week is spreading like the virus after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met the President. Top Congress sources claimed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had summoned Sahay last month and advised him to be prepared.

Singh believed to be quite unhappy over Sahay’s subterfuge and repeated show of innocence towards ‘moral wrongdoing’ of recommending coal blocks to SKS Ispat & Power Ltd, where his younger brother Sudhir is a director, all the while keeping the PM in the dark.

A couple of other Ministers are also likely to be asked to step down.

Sahay has been a desperate man, having made three unsuccessful attempts to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her political advisor Ahmed Patel in the past month, to plead innocence in a bid to save his chair.

On the other hand, a top Central Congress leader hinted that this Cabinet reshuffle could not be a very straight affair, since the party really can’t risk sulking drops-out and may anyway accommodate them.

“Such things are under deliberation. Sahay might be in the dropouts list. Cabinet reshuffle and organisational overhaul will be simultaneous, keeping in mind general election of 2014,” the leader said.

Sonia Gandhi is likely to reshuffle the Central organisation of the Congress by the end of this month or the next month. Rahul, during his two-day Jharkhand tour last month, had indicated a probable change of guard of the State unit.

Sahay is expected to lobby for the post of State party president to compensate for the loss of his precious Ministerial post.

Sahay’s impending departure from Cabinet is eagerly awaited by his rival faction, headed by State party president Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu, who does not stop smiling when asked about his proposed induction in the Cabinet.

While a shaky and preoccupied Sahay would be busy inaugurating puja pandals in Ranchi, Balmuchu will be in Delhi to confirm his Cabinet prospects. He is slated to visit Delhi on Friday.

Nonetheless, visiting all those puja pandals, Sahay would surely seek the blessings of the goddess against the feared guillotine.

But what he really needs are political blessings.

Long considered rivals, a series of rapid political developments and their stars seem to have brought Jharkhand Congress president Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu and erstwhile Union Cabinet Minister Subodh Kant Sahay to a similar fate.

Advisory capacity is the role sections of the State Congress are now considering for the duo, rather than appointing either to head the party in proposed restructure of the State unit.

The idea got the desired impetus in the wake of two shifts in national politics of the Congress as well as UPA-II in the past week, when Sahay was dropped from the Cabinet and Balmuchu was denied a berth.

An ‘over-extended’ term for Balmuchu as State party president is going to expire this month and he is quite unlikely to be anointed afresh. Nonetheless, he is believed to have started a lateral negotiation with Central party bosses to allow him to head the party.

Removed from the Ministry, Sahay — who has of late started identifying himself as a ‘man meant for the organisation’ — has given thick hints as to where his interests chiefly lie now — State party and people.

Both Sahay and Balmuchu have publicly undertaken their commitment to serve the party. Both of them 

Advisory role on cards for Balmuchu, Sahay?

are speaking in guarded language, but with enough adjectives to give clues to their understated meaning and the message they want conveyed. “I had never been keen on a ministerial job and never lobbied for that. I will keep serving party and organisation, which is my top-most priority,” says Balmuchu.

If the Central Congress dropped Sahay and denied Balmuchu a berth, it was solely because it did not want a fresh bout of factionalism in the State unit since both are known for sponsoring blatant factionalism.

The section of the State party averse to the Balmuchu-Sahay tandem has made a fresh plea to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. It wants him to help the party break fresh ground in Jharkhand and get fresh people in its ranks, rather than pressing for either of these two old boys, who are known for favouring kith and kin.

This non-cohesive and amoeba-like ‘third front’ consists chiefly of young MLAs and leaders like Banna Gupta, Geetashree Oraon, Sukhdeo Bhagat, Sarfaraz Ahmed and the likes, who consider themselves key flag-bearers of Rahul’s Mission Revive Jharkhand, for which Rahul visited Jharkhand in September. He returned with sufficient sense and reports that his party requires immediate housekeeping, with major surgery on its body politics.

“I had already told Rahulji about the precarious position of people like us. We are forced either to be in the Balmuchu camp or that of Sahayji. We believe an energetic leader — non-controversial and acceptable to all — should be appointed as the next president. One who will keep the party on the priority list,” Gupta notes. 

Though this close-knit group refrains from making explicit public statements that could court big brothers’ ire or lead to any disciplinary action, it has the support of many of Rahul’s confidantes.

However, they differ in one critical regard — whether the next president should be a tribal or non-tribal.

The Central Congress, which traditionally favours a tribal face to head the party in Jharkhand, will have a delicate task cut out since a section of the party is also pushing the idea of giving a non-tribal a chance.

Subodh Sahay did it for his brothers

Delhi as well as Ranchi’s power portals have long been buzzing with the story of Congress Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay’s love for his brothers. His denial is not so convincing a political plea.

At the beginning of the Coalgate controversy, Sahay had denied that either he or his brother had any connection with SKS Ispat & Power Ltd, which was granted coal blocks following his recommendation to the Prime Minister. But a flood of proof forced Sahay to accept that Sudhir Kumar, his younger brother, was honorary director.

“Many more SKS companies will surface in the coming days, which Sahay promoted and established to favour his family and brothers. He has a shrewd political and business sense. He has brought much disgrace to the party,” said senior Congress leader Alok Dubey.

Securing a ticket for his brother Sunil for the recently-held Hatia Assembly by-election remained a prestige point. He had pulled out all the stops despite open protest by the party’s old guards, who termed him yet another political opportunist to sacrifice the Congress’ larger interest at the alter of promoting his family.

Officially, Sunil was a Congress candidate; practically, it was a Minister contesting. Sunil was a just poster boy smiling from under the shadow of his heavyweight brother.

Unfortunately, the Sahays ended up flapping their wings hopelessly in a wind that did not obey their commands and lost the deposit. Sunil was left to carp and cry over the defeat — more than his party.

“Let him mourn the defeat. And please don’t say that the Congress got defeated. It was the Sahay family that was fighting election,” a senior Congress leader had said at the time. Sunil is still struggling to rise in politics as representative of his MP brother.

Subodh Kant Sahay was accused of keeping the high command in the dark just to promote his rookie brother.

Having a large family of six brothers — Sahay has three younger brothers Sudhir, Sunil and Tarun — the Minister has done his best to promote them politically and financially.

Sahay had frantically lobbied for Sudhir too, as party nominee for the Rajya Sabha election. But Dhiraj Sahu was just much better.

When it comes to tilting the scales in favour of his siblings, all it takes is a little tap of senior Sahay’s finger. One of his relatives who did not wish to be named refused to comment but advises going through MK Dhar’s ‘India’s Intelligence Unveiled’.

“This book speaks about how Sahay misused his position as Union Home Minister (State) to promote personal interest. Family is often a key arbiter in his scheme of politics,” he said.

Sahay, as Minister during the regime of Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, had faced the Opposition’s accusation for awarding contracts and tenders to front companies where his brothers had stakes.

“It is purely an attempt to establish patent; heirloom politics at its best and worst. Here, succession trend exhibits a flat model of the business family,” said former veteran Congress leader Pratibha Pandey.

Sudhir may not be a keener student of politics but Sahay has ensured a good place for him. He is part of the Congress delegation from Palamau. When Sahay was part of the Janta Dal, he had hijacked Janta Mazdoor Sangh, an RSS-supported trade union body active in Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi. He became a patron of the trade body and appointed Sudhir as its head.

Promoting family might help, but not always — it is a sword that can cut both ways. Sahay seems to have learnt this fact the hard way.