The Congress is finding it difficult to convince its senior leader Gurudas Kamat to retract his resignation and return to the party fold.
Party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala reiterated on Wednesday that he is still part of the Congress, but in the same breath he said Mr.Kamat was not in contact with the leadership. “We are not negotiating anything with him and he is not talking to us either. But we are hopeful that he will come back,” said Mr. Surjewala.
Several top leaders, however, doubted his return. “He had issues with the Congress leadership in Mumbai for a very long time and he felt the high command was not listening to him,” said a Mumbai based Congress leader. “There is a fifty-fifty chance of having him back.”
Not the first time
For the Congress high command, the only glimmer of hope lies in Mr. Kamat’s history of resignations. In 2011, he resigned as the Minister of State as he was reportedly expecting a Cabinet position from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In 1988, he had resigned from the Youth Congress for similar reasons. On both occasions, he could not afford to remain disgruntled with the high command for too long.
For over two years, Mr.Kamat served as the Congress general secretary in-charge overseeing Gujarat, Rajasthan and Daman and Diu. Under his supervision, the party performed well in the recent municipal polls in Gujarat and the local body polls in Mumbai.
“He is an important leader for us. It’ll be bad for Congress to let him go,” said senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Congress president Manikrao Thakre.
The general perception in the party is that Mr.Kamat grew disillusioned with the high command soon after Sanjay Nirupam, a former Shiv Sena leader, took over as the president of Mumbai Congress unit.
“There are two lobbies in Mumbai Congress — one led by Sanjay [Nirupam] and another by Gurudas Kamat,” said Mumbai based Congress office bearer. “In the last few months Mr. Kamat was feeling powerless because he could not get the attention of the high command.”
The cold war between Mr. Kamat and Mr. Nirupam was quite visible when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Mumbai in April. Mr. Kamat did not attend Mr. Gandhi’s padyatra and the media described his absence as “boycott.” Mr. Kamat, however, was quick to refute the charge saying he did not attend the event because he was unwell.
