UNDER ATTACK
A government that for over a decade remained impenetrable suddenly is under attack, at least in terms of optics. From the recent exposé on the alleged unilateral decision-making at the Election Commission of India; the forced resignation of the then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan; the headline distractions around non-events such as a recent one about a special session of Parliament being convened end September; the anger against the MDR tax and fears about women safety, to the cabinet non-reshuffle. One can argue, as BJP spokespersons are vehemently doing, that this is all social media whataboutery. On ground the party is holding its own, winning elections including the recent one at Delhi University Students Union (DUSU). But should the party leadership be as sanguine as these soundbites seem to indicate?
WHO IS TO BLAME?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is reportedly furious (and rightly so) with the Delhi University election results as this is the first time in over a decade that the NSUI has not won a single post in the student body elections. The responsibility buck stops at NSUI in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar. What made the defeat even more galling is the win of a rebel NSUI candidate who contested as an independent. Deepanshu Shokeen had wanted to contest for the vice president’s post, but was denied the ticket and asked instead to contest for President. He contested as a rebel and won as VP. Instead the vice president’s candidature from the NSUI went to Vir Chatrath, who is the son of a senior Congress functionary and the AICC headquarters in-charge, Manish Chatrath. In more pragmatic terms, Manish is the man for all seasons, having the resources to organise all the political essentials from aircraft to tents to catering at an hour’s notice. So the question that Rahul Gandhi now wants an answer to is simple: at whose behest did Kanahiya overlook Deepanshu and accommodate Vir?
TWIST IN THE TALE
The story here is not about faulty candidate selection (though the Congress excels at this), but rather how Kanhaiya Kumar has not been able to fit into the Congress eco-system. He’s an excellent orator but his organisational skills do not seem to match up. In fact, there is a great deal of resentment against some of the lateral (one could say unilateral) imports that are brought into the party as opposed to rewarding those who have worked within the organisation. Kanhaiya is one but Praveen Chakravarty also comes to mind. He had been given charge of the Professional Congress and is now a Rajya Sabha MP with the support of the TVK. And though he has not joined the party, Yogendra Yadav does seem to have a lot of access to Rahul Gandhi. Again, Yogendra is an excellent speaker and has emerged as a thought leader for the Left, but a lot of Congress workers are not happy with their leader tilting that far leftwards. What all three have in common is that their sole point of contact with the Congress is a personal rapport with Rahul Gandhi. Agreed that every leader needs a team he can trust, should it not also be a team that gels with the rest of the organisation?
PDA IN RAHUL’S BASTION
Why did Akhilesh Yadav choose Rae Bareli to kick off his PDA rath yatra for the 2027 elections? The starting point of any campaign comes with its political overtones. So why would Akhilesh choose Rahul Gandhi’s bastion for his first PDA rally (held on 24th September). Ostensibly, the SP says this is not the official launch of the PDA rath yatra. The visit to Rae Bareli was necessitated after the September 17 clashes between the members of the RSS’ student wing ABVP and the SP-affiliated Chhatra Sabha at Feroze Gandhi Degree College in Rae Bareli city. Akhilesh wanted to visit the house of Rahul Lodhi, the OBC leader and the SP MLA from the area, who has accused the police of high handedness and caste discrimination. But there is more to this than just that. While the Lok Sabha seat of Rae Bareli is with the Congress, there is a strong SP presence in the area with the party winning three of the five Assembly seats in the constituency. (The other two have gone to the BJP). In fact if you recall, during the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha it was only after Akhilesh insisted that Rahul should contest from Rae Bareli that the Congress leader decided to stand from Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, Akhilesh had told Rahul that if he was not the candidate from Rae Bareli, then the SP would field its own candidate from there. Hence, is the visit to Rae Bareli and given the large crowds that welcomed the irrepressible Akhilesh, another bargaining chip before the seat sharing talks begin between the Congress and the SP? There is already some uncertainty over the number of seats demanded by the Congress and the number that the SP is willing to part with. Watch this space, for elections are barely six months away.
