NEW DELHI, June 11: At the age of 81, one of the oldest active Congressmen waits for his expected coronation tomorrow as party president, hoping it would turn the tide for a desperate party.

Sitaram Kesri, backroom boy for years, is keeping his fingers crossed praying that no last minute hiccups spoil the party he has planned for long. By tomorrow evening, the result of the first direct elections in the Congress in 50 years should be out. Though Kesri's rivals, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot, appear to have given up hope temporarily, the old man is cautious.

Kesri's agenda is long and arduous. But of priority will be defining a role for Sonia Gandhi in the party, deciding the fates of Pawar, Ghulam Nabi Azad and G Venkatswamy, choosing his nominees in the all-powerful Congress Working Committee and listing a precise programme for the party to follow for the next two years. And, of course, the promised tour of the country.In April, former premier Deve Gowda had called Kesri ``an old man in a hurry'' in his farewell speech in the Lok Sabha and the import of that statement may soon be dawning on Congress leaders. Should he be elected president, Kesri will be the oldest party head in Congress history. It will also mark the third stage in Kesri's carefully though-out plan for himself and, by implication, the Congress.

Act one saw his predecessor P V Narasimha Rao fall in disgrace, stripped of power almost completely. Act two saw Gowda exit in an acrimonious atmosphere. Act three is expected to follow where Kesri will formally be anointed Congress president after an election putting him at once in the company of two former party stalwarts Subhas Chandra Bose and Purushottam Das Tandon. Both Bose and Tandon quit within months unable to handle the opposition within the party but Kesri is hoping to reverse history. Among the first things he is likely to do after victory is a visit to 10, Janpath. Kesri had already extended an invitation to Sonia Gandhi for a place in the CWC. That was when Sonia was not a member of the party.

The other thing Kesri will have to deal with is the immediate future of Pawar, Venkatswamy and other rivals. Both had no love lost for Kesri during the campaign for the election and Kesri normally likes to pay back a compliment. Personalities apart, Kesri has been largely silent on the more important issue of Congress revival. Problems are numerous for Kesri and the party and only time will tell whether Congressmen had made the right choice in a rare party election.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.