The grand old party’s several electoral defeats have resulted in leaders and MLAs showing no interest in carrying out the membership drive.
New Delhi: The membership drive of the Congress party has failed to gather pace, with the leaders showing little interest in the exercise due to the party getting weaker in the wake of a series of poll reverses. The situation was such that the strength of new members could not even reach one fourth mark of what it was last time by 31 March.
The situation in Congress-ruled Rajasthan is much worse. Apart from electoral defeats, internal bickering has impacted the membership drive badly. As a result, the leadership has extended the membership drive till 15 April. But there is hardly any possibility of the drive to gather momentum. The internal party system became much worse since Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the massive defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The organizational system did not improve. He and his team continued to call the shots in the party. The party control could not be given to any leader outside the Gandhi family. The decision to hold organizational elections was taken amid the questions being raised on the leadership after several electoral defeats. The party poll was postponed due to Covid pandemic last year. The new schedule fixed the deadline for membership drive by 31 March and for the election of party president by 20 September. But it is doubtful whether the presidential election would take place as per schedule. However, efforts are underway to hand over the party charge to Rahul Gandhi in August itself. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel have always pitched for Rahul Gandhi as Congress president. Kamal Nath, who is holding two posts in Madhya Pradesh, demanded that the party president should be from the Gandhi family only. Nath is a known loyalist of the Gandhis. He also announced that all the demands of the G23 leaders have been accepted. So the indications are that Rahul Gandhi’s appointment as Congress president in August would be a reality only if he accepts the responsibility. Otherwise, the presidential election will be deferred once again.
But the question is whether the party’s condition will improve in different states. Congress has only two states under its rule—Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The CMs of both states are taking common man friendly decisions. Pension, water, health, power, unemployment allowance and loan waiver for farmers, are some of these decisions which can pave the way for Congress’ revival. But the faction fighting is rampant in both the states due to which the hard work of CMs’ may fail to bring desired success. It is also mandatory at the same time to keep all the MLAs happy so as to protect them from a possible sabotage. What is however prevailing is a negative atmosphere and confusion in the states. The membership drive data says it all. Rajasthan has a total 200 Assembly seats, and the target was to make 25,000 members from every single seat. So, in all 50 lakh members should have been added to the list. But the membership could somehow cross only the five lakh mark by 31 March. PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra is continuously visiting several districts of the state. But it seems that the membership strength is hardly going to touch the last time data of 40 lakh.
Sources say that MLAs and leaders are not taking interest in the drive. Same situation is in Chhattisgarh. Madhya Pradesh is another important state where assembly elections will be held just before Lok Sabha polls. But in MP also, only 8 lakh members could be added by 31 March. Apart from lack of enthusiasm, another reason for such tardy pace is the digital system of the drive. The same scene is also in other states. But these three states are more important because Congress’ electoral future hinges on assembly elections in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Congress high command seems to have learnt no lesson from MP where it lost its government two years ago. Kamal Nath is simultaneously holding two posts—PCC chief and CLP leader in MP, and the high command could not decide as to which of the two posts he should be relieved of.
Congress in charge of MP Mukul Wasnik has been holding meetings. But observers believe what Kamal Nath wants will happen in the MP Congress. It suggests that states continue to grapple with the problems that have so far weakened the Congress. Kamal Nath supporters believe that Congress will defeat BJP easily if it fights elections under leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The Congress will be able to win these three states only if there is a strong central leadership.