In fact, Rita Bahuguna Joshi was the victim of a power struggle in the Gandhi household where on many matters even the siblings, Rahul and Priyanka, do not see eye to eye. On joining the BJP at a press conference, Bahuguna Joshi recalled her fond association with Sonia Gandhi, whom she praised for understanding the problems related to the organisation. However, she chose to be politically correct by hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, though she herself had been sidelined ever since Priyanka (who does not hold any formal position) began showing increasing interest in the political affairs of Uttar Pradesh. All the major appointees who are a part of the UP initiative of the Congress—including Raj Babbar, Sanjay Singh, Sheila Dikshit, Nirmal Khatri and Pramod Tewari—enjoy both the patronage and backing of Priyanka. Rahul may have roped in strategist Prashant Kishor, but his role has diminished in the past few months and he has been spending more time in Punjab, where he has developed a comfortable rapport with Captain Amarinder Singh. Kishor’s shaky position in UP became evident when he was overruled for recommending a younger Brahmin as the Chief Ministerial face by the top leadership, which settled for the 78-year-old Sheila Dikshit.
Bahuguna Joshi being an astute political person, was conscious that blaming Priyanka for her exit would not go down well with the cadres who want to see her inheriting the legacy of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, whose birth centenary celebrations would be kicked off next month. Rahul is perennially the easy fall guy for most Congress leaders, particularly those who have been very close to Sonia Gandhi and who hold him directly responsible for the plight of the party, while the truth is that they themselves have enormously contributed to the decline and fall of the Congress. Therefore, Bahuguna Joshi targeted Rahul instead of Priyanka, since the former is likely to be anointed as the party president in the future and is the obvious successor of Sonia Gandhi. Priyanka does not occupy any official position and is formally not a part of the Congress set up, though she is in total control of the organisation in UP.
In Uttar Pradesh, which is going to be the big battlefield next year, other than holding his month long yatra, Rahul has been only endorsing decisions taken by his sister. In the party’s new set up, the sole prominent person who is close to the vice president is former Union Minister of State R.P.N. Singh, whose name Rahul had proposed for the UPCC presidentship way back in 2007, when Rita Bahuguna Joshi was eventually appointed by Sonia Gandhi. In 2012, Bahuguna Joshi took the flak on his behalf after the dismal performance of the party in the Assembly elections, though subsequently Rahul as well as his mother accepted responsibility for the debacle at a press conference held in New Delhi.
Congress sources said that the plan of those who were opposed to Rahul was that he should receive the blame for the impending rout in next year’s UP elections, where all the spearheads of the campaign are his sister’s appointees. The poll results would effectively end Rahul’s career and there would be little option left for the decreasing number of Congress leaders who would still be in the party to root for Priyanka as the new high command. That serious issues exist between the siblings was evident to Congressmen in the state when during his yatra, Rahul was at pains to tell his supporters in Bundelkhand last month that he and his sister did not have any differences whatsoever. According to a senior Congress leader, there was no need to give a clarification when until this day nobody has questioned him on the subject.
The party is virtually non-existent in UP and a sizable number of MLAs have already secured their berths from either the BJP or the BSP as they do not see themselves winning on a Congress ticket. Several leaders have been in constant touch with former Chief Minister Jagdambika Pal, who had moved to the BJP in 2014 and is now a Lok Sabha MP from the state. Pal is expected to act as a conduit for their switchover to the BJP at an appropriate time, since Congressmen can visualise the virtual decimation of their party in the Assembly elections.
Questions regarding Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s exit had started being raised ever since Vijay Bahuguna plotted the fall of the Congress government in Uttarakhand and subsequently switched to the BJP along with eight MLAs. However, until a few days ago, Bahuguna Joshi, although being gradually sidelined, stood her ground as she could not foresee her impending humiliation. Sources said that Vijay Bahuguna’s main grouse was also with Priyanka and he believed her to be the reason for his ouster from the Chief Ministership. Vijay Bahuguna was appointed the CM by Rahul Gandhi, with the approval of his mother and if sources are to be believed, at that juncture, a senior Congress aide of the party president had categorically told him not to comply with any request made by Priyanka and that he was at all times to listen to the instructions coming in solely from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.
The Bahugunas are a big catch for the BJP, which is seeking to attract the Brahmins back to its fold ahead of the UP polls. Rita Bahuguna Joshi as such may not, electorally speaking, bring in much, but her family name is powerful enough to send significant signals to her community. Her father H.N. Bahuguna was the Chief Minister in the 1970s and had played a pivotal role in the defeat of the Congress in 1977, when along with Babu Jagjivan Ram and Nandini Sathpathy, he floated a new outfit named Congress For Democracy. It was the CFD which played a mega role in the rout of the Congress in UP, Bihar and other northern states. Bahuguna returned to the Congress shortly before the 1980 Lok Sabha polls, following negotiations with Sanjay Gandhi and was appointed as the secretary general of the party, a post he held for nearly six months. He then parted company once again and successfully contested the Garhwal seat on his own steam against the Congress nominee Chander Mohan Singh Negi.
Bahuguna Joshi’s exit from the Congress is a precursor to a series of defections that are likely to take place in the future. Most senior leaders are feeling very uncomfortable with the new style of functioning. For them Priyanka is the natural leader, while Sonia Gandhi continues to endorse Rahul. The net result is that the grand old party is not looking grand any more. Given the BJP’s encouragement to Congress leaders to join the saffron brigade, the joke doing the rounds is that “Vote for BJP to elect your old Congress MP”.