Alva resigns, leaders flay her

NEW DELHI: Apparently facing disciplinary action, Congress General Secretary  Margaret Alva  resigned from her post on Tuesday after creating a storm by her stinging criticism of the party in election ticket distribution, drawing sharp criticism from various leaders.
     
The morning after she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and A K Antony, Chairman of the party's Disciplinary Action Committee, Alva sent her resignation to Gandhi this afternoon.
     
During the meeting with Gandhi on Monday night, the 66-year-old veteran, who is also a member of the Congress Working Committee and Central Election Committee, is believed to have offered to resign from her post  if her criticism had become an embarrassment.
     
Apparently not wanting to be seen as leninent on indiscipline with elections round the corner, leaders were unsparing in criticism of Alva, a member of various high-level forums of the party.
     
Rahul Gandhi rejected her charges saying he was "not not unhappy" about ticket distribution. Those who attacked  her included  Congress' chief spokesman M Veerappa Moily, who said she had committed serious breach of discipline, Digvijay Singh and Ashok Ghelot.
      
There were also voices of support from senior leaders including Yogendra Makwana from Gujarat and R L Jalappa from her state Karnataka.
     
Last week, Alva, who is in charge of party affairs in several including Maharashtra and Punjab,  had stirred a hornet's nest by saying that tickets during Karnataka assembly elections were sold and  questioning the denial of ticket to her son Nivedith.
     
The 66-year-old party veteran had said that "different yardsticks" were applied now now when children of various leaders were being given tickets in the current round of assembly elections.
     
Her remarks were referred to Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) and she had a meeting with Antony followed by a call on Gandhi. It is not not clear whether the committee would go ahead with its proceedings on the charge of breach of discipline in the wake of her resignation or drop them.
     
Antony, meanwhile, had a meeting with Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence on Tuesday but left without taking reporters' questions.
     
An indication that the party might be tough with Alva came when Moily lashed out at her criticism and said the DAC knew how to go about the matter of sorting out the disciplinary issue.
     
Moily accused Alva of serious breach of discipline and said her allegations were motivated by the fact that her son was denied assembly election ticket.
     
"She is unhappy that her son was denied a ticket in the Karnataka assembly elections. The motivation is clearly there. Is it not motivated? Otherwise she would not have talked of morals. It is not a moral issue," Congress chief spokesperson Veerappa Moily said.
     
"She is raising an issue that happened six months ago," he said, terming it as unfortunate and one that was not done by a leader of her stature.
     
He said children, relatives and kith and kin are given tickets by the party but it is done not because they are relatives but on merit.
     
"Her charges are an after-thought, baseless, absolutely unfounded and motivated," he said and added this was not in line with the unity and integrity of the party.

Moily said  if Alva had any grievances, genuine or otherwise, should have taken up the matter within the party forum and not in the open.
       
Ghelot said Alva had made the attack out of frustration and that she cannot generalise party decisions on that basis.
       
Another General Secretary Digvijay Singh rebutted Alva's charge and said Congress does not not sell tickets. "Tickets are given on the basis of merit and the winning chances of the candidate."
       
C K Jaffer Sharief, whose grandson was also denied ticket in Karnataka elections and was referred to by Alva, said there was no no need for her to talk to the media.
      
 "It's an internal matter.  She is a central election committee member and she could have taken up the issue with the party president.  I was also upset but I went and talked then and there," he said.
       
However, Makwana, a former Union Minister, supported Alva saying there were instances when some people had come to him and said party tickets were being sold.
       
Another former Union Minister Jalappa said there was truth to some extent in what Alva had said. "It is true tickets were sold. Senior leaders also know that what had happened.  If they are sensitive they can react.  If not  it is okay," he said.