A non-Gandhi should take charge of the Congress, not Rahul and Priyanka.
New Delhi: After resounding rejection of the party in the Assembly elections, the Congress is now facing an existential crisis. The grand old party’s dismal showing in Punjab, UP, Goa and Uttarakhand, following its Assam and Kerala defeats, suggest that people are not at all accepting both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. With the situation coming to such a pass, now only Congress will have to save itself so that the proverbial “Congress-mukt Bharat” does not become a reality. Reliance on the Gandhis is not going to help the party.
With the Congress’ political imprint in the country having shrunk to its lowest under the present leadership, the party now needs to take a call on whether the post of president should be given to someone from the Gandhi family or to a non-Gandhi leader. Given the plight of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi’s return to party chief post looks difficult and, in that case, a non-Gandhi leader as Congress president seems to be a possibility in the September organizational polls.
With the disgruntled leaders getting active again to raise the leadership issue, the voices of dissent will surface. Some leaders like Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari from “Group of 23” already met at the residence of senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad a day after poll results. The meeting comes ahead of CWC interactions to be convened by party chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday. These dissenters are said to be ready with hard questions to be hurled at the high command. With this in view, Rahul Gandhi’s return as party president may be a difficult affair. These leaders are in no mood to allow Rahul Gandhi to be elected party chief unopposed. So, in this context, the possibility of a non-Gandhi leader being given the top post cannot be ruled out.
Despite all this, if Congress still fails to do course correction as per the changing political circumstances in the country, then the situation of the proverbial “Congress-mukt Bharat” may be a reality. One of the realities that the Congress should not lose sight of is the spectacular emergence of AAP which snatched power from it in Punjab. In what rings alarm bells for Congress, the AAP is toiling to expand footprints across the country which will directly affect its poll prospects. The newbie party will be fighting in over half a dozen states going to polls by next year ahead of Lok Sabha elections of 202. The desertions from the Congress in days to come cannot be ruled out.
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be going to polls in October this year. Naturally, the BJP will spare no effort to retain power in all these states. Similarly, polls will be held in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have so far seen direct fights between Congress and BJP. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have Congress governments. But now the AAP will focus on electoral battles in these two states posing a challenge to the ruling party Congress.
Delhi CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has talked about changing the system countrywide in what indicated AAP’s strategy to focus on national politics. The AAP is gradually becoming an alternative to the Congress. After preparing some ground in the last Punjab polls, the AAP in these polls got success. Similarly, the AAP tasted poll waters in Uttarakhand this time. But the party will fight the next elections in the hill state in a more aggressive way. Observers earlier said the AAP’s presence in the electoral fray would stop Congress from coming to power in Uttarakhand. As a result, Congress got defeated.
However, the weak leadership is also responsible for the Congress’ debacle. The leadership could not resolve the infighting. So, 2027 Uttarakhand polls will see a direct fight between AAP and BJP. The AAP will implement the same strategy in Rajasthan, MP, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh as well. Kejriwal’s outfit is already working hard in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, the sycophants in the Congress might have started presenting a picture to misguide Rahul again, saying that the BJP cannot repeat its 2019 performance in 2024. These elements must be suggesting that the Congress would win 2024 Lok Sabha polls despite state defeats. This group of sycophants had misguided Rahul similarly in 2019, saying that 200 seats would come to Congress. However, the result is known to one and all. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would do a massive damage to the party if they continue to rely on the sycophants.
The Congress, which was hitherto dealing with the sole challenger BJP, has now another tough rival AAP. It was the Congress which had given the newbie party an opportunity to thrive in 2013 by supporting its government for 49 days. Moreover, Congress cannot score over BJP just by criticizing PM Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were seen tweeting scores of messages critical of the PM. However, it is not clear whether the Gandhis are even aware of what is tweeted from their handles. Everybody was recently taken aback when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed ignorance about the Rajasthan budget. This, despite the fact that she had admired the budget in a tweet just hours after the budget was presented. It suggests the lack of seriousness at the highest level of leadership in the Congress. The UP and Uttarakhand poll results have shown that only performance of the governments ensures victory. It is clear that the BJP did not play communal card in the polls. So, Congress cannot blame it for using communal politics in the elections. Undoubtedly, BJP could win polls in UP and Uttarakhand due to the factors like popularity of PM Modi and CM Yogi, law and order, development, women safety, etc. Women voters supported BJP massively. BJP’s women and other cells popularized the governments’ work as well. In contrast, Congress does not have well-organized cells in place. The Congress high command needs to chalk out a strategy for Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh now. The Gehlot government’s old pension scheme and urban job guarantee schemes are the good issues for the Congress to cash in on. Chhattisgarh has also implemented these schemes. Similarly, Congress should immediately get into action mode to chalk out a strategy for MP so that it could improve its chances before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. But the central leadership should be strong enough to do all this. All the responsibilities need to be given without delay. Even faces should be announced now. The Congress’ high command is actually responsible for all the electoral defeats. Decisions of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra turned out to be counter-productive in terms of Punjab. They could not resolve infighting in Uttarakhand as well. Inexperienced leaders like Harish Chaudhary and Devender Yadav were made in charge of these states. Their roles have been questioned as well. The situation will not improve without Rahul Gandhi getting rid of his team members.