Mistry the man to watch

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: AICC General Secretary Madhusudhan Mistry heads the band of AICC observers charged with the responsibility to prepare a report based on ground reality on the poll preparedness of the party in the run-up to the general election in 2014. Mistry, who returned from Hyderabd on Friday, is visiting different States to get a feel of the situation on the ground and present a report to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. Mistry, 67, from Gujarat, has carved out a position for himself by selfless work and is free of any personal agendas. He has emerged as the blue-eyed boy of Rahul Gandhi, who implicitly trusts Mistry's assessments, since he does not allow his own personal predilections to influence his views. Trusted by Rahul Gandhi and Congress President's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel, Mistry has maintained a good equation with the High Command. Rahul Gandhi inducted Mistry into the Congress Election Coordination Committee and asked to head the band of AICC observers. Though heading the group of observers, Mistry prefers to travel across the States himself to get a feel of the situation on the ground. Fiercely secular at heart, Mistry was personally targeted by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and lost the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat in 2009, which he had won in 2004. In 2011, he was made AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka. The Congress scored a spectacular victory in the Southern State, winning it back from the BJP. The High Command is expected to entrust greater responsibility in the days to come. After the victory in Karnataka, Mistry may even be considered for being given the charge of Uttar Pradesh, which is the biggest worry for Rahul Gandhi. Along with Digvijay Singh and Jairam Ramesh, Mistry forms part of the core team of Rahul Gandhi.. Among the younger lot, Rahul Gandhi counts on Milind Deora, Jitendra Singh, Sachin Pilot and Meenakshi Natarajan.