‘Party fears consequences of such magnitude that they cannot manage, making it an ever scared leadership’.
NEW DELHI: After having tumultuous months of bickering between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in its Rajasthan unit, Congress’ changed leadership (Malikarjun Kharge) has also not been able to end the infighting or take action against the dissident leaders in the state. Party insiders say if any hard decision is taken, the party apprehends consequences of such magnitude which they cannot manage, making it an ever “scared leadership”.
Though the party insiders claim, the leadership is still aimless about what it must do with disorder and lack of leadership prevalent not only in Rajasthan, but in several other states. It is being noted that when the current president of the AICC (Kharge) went to Rajasthan, as an observer to manage the crisis, MLAs led by Gehlot had refused to listen to him. The whole act is believed to have insulted Kharge and the Gandhis. However, the top leadership let things pass without clarifying its judgement on Rajasthan. Political analysts claim the central leadership has lost its authority over Rajasthan cadre and whatever decisions they make now will be impulsive and not corrective. “Which is again a bad example of leadership’s decision making,” an expert said.
Asked if the central leadership is weak as it let the Rajasthan infighting brew to such a point where there is a threat of the party’s collapse in the state, Alok Sharma, AICC Congress spokesperson, told The Sunday Guardian, “No, I don’t think so. Central leadership is not at all weak. I feel that some timely actions are needed; that is the need of the hour. Central leadership is quite strong; I would say very strong and after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it has again gained momentum at the national level and the result is that all the Opposition partners in the UPA are coming behind Congress and that is the result of strong leadership at the central level.”
Political analysts presume that it was for the first time in the history of the national party (Congress) that the high command’s diktats were openly refused by a state chief, referring to the September rebellion of Ashok Gehlot, which showed that the state leaders are more powerful than the Gandhis and can easily defy them. They moreover resent that the same could happen in Karnataka where the two leaders (Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar) are fighting it out internally to become the next CM in case the party comes to power.
A Congress functionary said, “There is high possibility that everything will go fine in the state of Karnataka and the CM face will be chosen smoothly. However, there is another point into consideration. We never know what a particular prominent leader is going to do, what step he is going to take. That way everything is unpredictable.”
Moreover, he added, “There is least possibility that choosing the leader in Karnataka will not be smooth. And if that happens, things could fall apart in the state. Also, then it will consolidate the idea of the party leadership being aimless as well as useless.”