WHAT, & WHO, IS THE RAHULIAN CONG?
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar recently made an interesting comment when he said that while he has been a part of the Nehruvian and Rajivian Congress, he feels left out of the Rahulian Congress. What then is this Rahulian Congress? Or rather, who is the Rahulian Congress? That is a question a lot of old timers are asking as they feel more and more left out of the decision making in the current set up. While each leader is entitled to choose his old team—as Even Prime Minister Modi has done in the BJP—there are those who are not quite ready to join the Marg Darshak Mandal just yet, and feel left out. Especially those who haven’t outlived their utility, as is the case with Shashi Tharoor. In fact, Rahul did well in reaching out to Tharoor because the latter’s main grouse was that he had been sidelined ever since he contested an election against Mallikarjun Kharge. As for some others, perhaps it is here that Sonia Gandhi could step in and bridge the gap between the Rahulian Congress and the older guard.
RAJYA SABHA RUMBLE
With as many as 37 seats coming up for renomination in the Rajya Sabha, lobbying has begun amongst the hopefuls. The Congress has around 8 to 9 seats coming up, and there seem to be triple that number of contenders. In the race are key members of Team Rahul such as Meenakshi Nattrajan, Sachin Rao, Krishna Allavaru, Praveen Chakravarty and Jitender Singh Alwar. There is also the need to reward other party leaders such as Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate, who have been fighting the good fight. Then there are the quotas to be filled in terms of women, minority and Dalit leaders. In addition, both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi are coming up for renomination. Both are expected to make a comeback. Given all this, it is going to be a tough balancing act for Rahul Gandhi and the nominations would be a good marker for the road ahead, especially if his team gets the bulk of the nominations.
BJP ORGANISATIONAL RESHUFFLE
The BJP is due an organisational reshuffle which has been pending ever since the appointment of Nitin Nabin as the new BJP chief. He is expected to get his team in place and one is hearing that some of the younger faces who have been left out of the cabinet such as Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani would be given party posts. There is also talk of shifting some ministers from the Centre to the party. However, for some reason this is yet to happen. In the meantime, there is also talk that Nitin Nabin may be given a Rajya Sabha nomination.
